


stay in motion

by QuietLittleVoices



Category: King Falls AM (Podcast)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Hockey, Angst and Fluff But Mostly Fluff, Coming Out, Friendship, Homophobia, Homophobic Language, Long-Distance Relationship, M/M, Marriage Proposal, Non-Graphic Description of Injury, Other characters mentioned - Freeform, Tags to be added
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-03
Updated: 2019-04-29
Packaged: 2019-09-06 02:42:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 39,873
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16823512
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QuietLittleVoices/pseuds/QuietLittleVoices
Summary: Sammy only goes to the combine to watch Jack get drafted first overall, and he isn’t disappointed. He claps as loud as anyone when Jack gets on stage and puts on the jersey. He isn’t even expecting to get drafted himself - he knows that he’s nothing to shake a stick at, literally. He’s a dime-a-dozen defenceman.





	1. Rookies (Part 1)

**Author's Note:**

> Credit to phatomdare1 because their tutorial on the twitter stuff was the only one I could find in my cursory search!
> 
> I really hope everyone enjoys this AU!! I'm really proud of it and I'm so glad to be finally sharing the first chapter!!
> 
> Credits for the avatars used in this chapter:  
> http://oscarsklefbom.tumblr.com/icons  
> http://austohmatthews.tumblr.com/post/161104237910/  
> http://bradenholtby.tumblr.com/post/157990573215/  
> And I made Jack's.

Sammy only goes to the combine to watch Jack get drafted first overall, and he isn’t disappointed. He claps as loud as anyone when Jack gets on stage and puts on the jersey. He isn’t even expecting to get drafted himself - he knows that he’s nothing to shake a stick at, literally. He’s a dime-a-dozen defenceman.

It’s a miracle he ends up drafted by the same team as Jack. Hours later, rounds gone by, everyone at home’s stopped watching later - but Sammy doesn’t care who’s watching, because he catches Jack’s eye in the crowd and he can’t stop grinning like he won the fucking lottery. 

They can’t sit together - Sammy was drafted later, there’s a lot of boys between them, but they can’t stop glancing at each other down the row for the last round of the combine. And as soon as they’re allowed to move, Jack goes bouncing over to Sammy and almost picks him up from how tightly he hugs him.

“I knew it,” Jack exclaimes. “I fucking knew it!”

Sammy laughs and pats Jack’s shoulder, leaving his hand there even as Jack lets him go. “How’s it feel, Mr. First-Overall?”

Jack blushes. “Whatever,” he mutters. “I don’t care about that.”

Sammy raises an skeptical eyebrow as the rest of the Wright family walks over. “Don’t tell the media that.”

Lily just keeps tapping away at her phone while the Wright parents congratulate Sammy and Jack, and Sammy is thankful that they know him well enough to not mention that his parents aren’t there - probably hadn’t even been watching.

Jack doesn’t tell the media that he  _ doesn’t care _ , but he does pull Sammy under his arm as they talk to him and says how proud he is to be there with his best friend. As long as Sammy keeps his arms in front of him, doesn’t put one around Jack’s waist like he’s itching to, then it’s all plausible deniability.  _ Just bros _ . 

Jack’s parents and Lily go back to their hotel room in the middle of the media frenzy, and Sammy wishes he could follow them. Not that he’d want to be anywhere other than at Jack’s side, but of the two of them he was the least suited to attention. As a fifth round pick, he wouldn’t have  _ gotten _ any if Jack hadn’t pulled him in. 

After media, they headed back to the hotel with the other guys. Some of the Canadians complained about not being able to drink in America and they got no sympathy. A few of the Americans with fakes or cool parents advertised that they’ve got liquor in their rooms, and most of the guys broke off to go with them. 

No one’s looking when Sammy and Jack don’t split up and head up to Jack’s room together. As soon as the door shuts, Jack turns and kisses him, hard, and Sammy melts into it.

“I’m so proud of you,” Jack says, still grinning.

Sammy can’t help but laugh as he leans into Jack again. “Isn’t that my line?”

Jack doesn’t say anything. He just shakes his head and kisses Sammy again. 

Their agent somehow convinces management to let them be roommates. They knew early on that they wanted the same agent, because it would be easier to only have to trust one person. Aside from Lily, who barely counted anyway, their agent was the only one who knew that they were dating and they wanted to keep it that way. 

It’s a miracle that Sammy isn’t sent down to the AHL and actually gets to stay in Newark with Jack. 

“I expected to be in Albany by now,” Sammy admits, lying in bed with Jack after their second game. Even though they’d moved in just after the draft and had been living in New Jersey all summer, it was still only sparsely furnished. They hadn’t put anything in the second bedroom yet, even though one of them was supposed to be using it. “For at least a year or two, until I got sick of it and retired. Maybe I’d go to college and become a journalist.” Sammy laughs lightly to himself but Jack just tightens his arm around Sammy’s shoulders.

“I never expected that,” Jack says seriously. “I always knew you were NHL material.”

Sammy rolls his eyes - anyone could tell that Sammy needed a bit of development and would probably benefit from a year or two in the AHL. “Just ‘cause the defensive line was weak doesn’t mean I’m  _ that _ good.”

“Yeah but you aren’t the only defenseman they drafted, Sammy,” Jack points out. “If you weren’t good enough they would have kept one of the other guys and sent you down. But they kept you.”

“I’ve had two minutes of ice time in both games, total,” Sammy retorts, shifting a little to press the side of his face against Jack’s chest. “It’s better than none, I know, but - it’s barely a warm-up.”

“We’re still in exhibition,” Jack reminds him gently, rubbing a hand down his back. “They still might move you up.”

Sammy doesn’t say anything. He knows that Jack’s right but it still feels fake. It feels like he’s there out of some consideration for Jack but that was impossible - sure, Jack was the first overall, but he wasn’t the face of the franchise and he didn’t have the hopes of the franchise pinned on him in the same way as other guys did. Management cared way less about what Jack wanted.

They play their first official NHL game and Sammy’s on the ice for a full minute. Jack’s parents show up without Lily, even though she’s way closer in the her third year at NYU, and congratulate them even though they lost, and Sammy and Jack take them out to dinner. 

“Meeting the parents?” one of the guys - Sammy thought he might be called Escobar but he wasn’t sure - teases in the locker room. “Must be getting serious.”

Sammy feels his hackles go up but Jack just rolls his eyes. “Shut the fuck up, Myers.”

It isn’t the worst thing Sammy’s heard in his life, or even in this locker room, but it’s the most directed. Sexual jokes and insinuations are par for the course, but it’s usually vague - no one involved could actually  _ be _ gay, obviously, that would be ridiculous. This implies that someone’s noticed something, even though Sammy and Jack are careful to not act any differently than the other ‘bromances’ in the locker room. No one’s even been to their half-furnished apartment, there’s no way for anyone to know anything.

Sammy and Jack are still careful over the next week to keep their hands to themselves.

Ron Begley approaches them in the parking lot a few days after the incident with Myers, long after everyone had moved on from what was just another barb to most of them. Sammy and Jack had both noticed over their short term with the Devils that the locker room talk didn’t extend to him - it wasn’t that people didn’t seem to like Ron, but they didn’t joke around with him the same way. Maybe it was his serious disposition, or maybe it was the one-punch knockout he was known for on the ice and no one wanted to find out if it extended  _ off _ the ice.

He doesn’t say anything right away, just stands quietly at the trunk of Sammy and Jack’s car when they walk up so they stand by and wait, too. 

“I could be wrong,” he starts slowly, watching Sammy and Jack carefully, “but in case I’m not, I wanted you boys to know you aren’t alone here.”

Sammy looks over and meets Jack’s eyes, and he looks just about how Sammy feels. “Thanks,” Jack says finally, looking at Ron hesitatingly.

Ron nods mostly to himself and gives them a look that isn’t exactly a smile but could only be describe that way, and then he walks a few cars down to his truck. He waves to them once before he drives away.

There’s less parties than when they were in the juniors down in Florida. Back then, there was a party every week to go to, but most of their teammates are adults with families and lives now. House parties aren’t exactly par for course when over half the team have to tuck their kids into bed later, but going to the bar after a winning game is. It was still weird to end up at a bar rather than someone’s basement, how the staff looked at the other way when the rookies came in with bad fakes or nothing at all. The other rookie - Escobar, whoever it was that had spoken earlier - who’d stayed on the team after training camp aside from Sammy and Jack seems to revel in the novelty of it, but Sammy just takes what’s offered to keep himself from looking out of place. 

Sammy and Jack can duck out when they lose - it’s understood that some guys like a consolation drinks and some don’t, and they firmly position themselves as the latter. But Jack’s a second line centre and a rumour started going around that they wanted to give him the A, or give him the second one when the captain retired at the end of the season. He couldn’t leave after a win, and he begged Sammy to stick around with him to make it bearable.

“We’ll only stay until everyone sees that I showed up,” Jack promises before they get out of the car, and Sammy nods. Jack was immediately swept up with a few of the other first line guys so Sammy went to find a table with a few of the guys he recognized that already had a pitcher on it.

Woflie pours him a beer and grins at him, and Sammy briefly wonders if he got his nickname from how sharp his teeth looked, but then he opens his mouth. “Hey, Stevie, right?” he says cheerfully, voice almost too loud even in the din of the bar.

Sammy nods awkwardly and takes a big sip of his drink. “I guess.” 

“You guess?” Wolfie asks. “Is there something better I could call you, kid?”

Sammy shrugs. “Uh, Sammy. But Stevie’s fine,” he adds with a vague hand gesture. “It’s what most of the guys call me.”

“You can call me Finn,” he replies, reaching over the table at an awkward angle to shake Sammy’s hand. “Nice to meet ya.”

“You, too,” Sammy replies, shaking his hand quickly. 

Finn keeps chattering about something and Sammy feels bad about it but he sort of tunes him out. Jack is clear across the room, standing with a group of other guys by the bar and talking about… something. Sammy felt his stomach turn and he took another sip of beer.

Myers - Escobar - whatever his name was came and sat next to Sammy after a while of one-sided conversation with Finn. “You undressin’ Lefty with your eyes there, Stevie?” he asks, tone light and teasing, but Sammy’s head snaps to look at him. 

“What?” Sammy chokes out around a sip of his beer.

Myers just rolls his eyes. “Just Uber home, dude. You don’t have to sit here stewing over whatever. But - you know, we won!” He grins at Sammy and takes a big sip of the beer in his hand. “Celebrate, live a little, get out there on the dancefloor and find a puckbunny  _ then _ Uber home.” He waggles his eyebrows at Sammy and slams the rest of his beer, leaving the glass there before heading out on the dancefloor himself. 

Sammy presses his lips together awkwardly, staring at a spot on the table in front of him.

“Just ignore him,” Finn advises. “You can go if you want to but Escobar just talks a big game.”

Sammy nods. He doesn’t want to think about how he and Escobar have been on the team the same amount of time, were just as young as each other, and the team seemed to know a lot more about Escobar than about Sammy. But that was what he had wanted. “Yeah, sure.” He finishes his beer quickly and leaves the glass next to Myers’. “Thanks, Finn. Have a good one.”

“You, too, Sammy!” Finn says cheerfully and Sammy gives him a half wave before walking outside.

It was only a minute before Jack came out after him. “I was wondering where you went,” he says, voice cheerful but with an edge of worry to it.

Sammy smiles at him reassuringly. “Just needed some air. You can get back in there, I’ll be back in a minute.”

Jack looks around them and touches Sammy’s arm for a just a second. “I’d rather be here with you,” he says quietly, and Sammy feels something in his chest swell.

“I wish we could -” he cuts himself off, huffing a laugh. “Never mind.”

“I know,” Jack replies sadly. “I wish we could, too.”

It was dark out, nearing midnight, and the air was getting colder. Jack had left his jacket inside and was shivering visibly as they stood quietly outside the bar looking at each other, just outside the light of the neon sign.

The door slams open and one of the guys walks out with a girl under his arm, startling them apart even though they aren’t doing anything incriminating or even unusual. He doesn’t notice them and goes right to the street where a car is waiting, and they laugh awkwardly.

“Wait here,” Jack says. “I’m gonna grab my jacket, then we’ll go home, okay?”

“What about making the rounds and greeting everyone?” Sammy asks, trying to tease Jack for his earlier concern with it but the tone falling flat and too-serious. “Greasing elbows and all that,” he adds.

Jack smiles tightly. “I think I saw everyone. I’d rather go watch a movie with you than keep talking to fucking Doyle.”

“Okay. I’ll be here,” Sammy promises. 

Jack grins and runs back inside, and he’s out again in under five minutes. He knocks his shoulder against Sammy’s, heading towards their car.

Jack Wright   
@jwright68   
(Flexed Biceps ) so excited to be starting the season w this guy!! @samstevens67 (Hundred Points Symbol ≊ Hundred Points)(Hundred Points Symbol ≊ Hundred Points) 3:09 PM - 3 October 20xx  783  1.3k 

Kayly  
@devilsg1rl   
look im as into lefty as anyone becuz (Eyes ) but the only reason he’s still here is becuz stevie isn’t good enough to be traded (Information Desk Person ) 12:37 PM - 23 October 20xx  3  5 

Allie  
@hockeygay   
I’ve Had Jack Wright For A Day And A Half But If Anything Happened To Him I’d Kill Everyone In This Room And Then Myself  9:24 AM - 27 October 20xx  27  34 

Lindsey  
@hockey-and-chill   
yoooo did anyone else see that??? holy shit  7:43 PM - 2 November 20xx  33  42 

He did block the shot.

Jack can and would say what he wanted, but Sammy held firm that he stopped the other team from getting a goal, and that was his job.

“That’s the  _ goalies _ job,” Jack argues in the hospital, later. “Yours is to keep them from getting to the goalie.”

“Did that, too,” Sammy replies. 

Jack just rolls his eyes as a doctor comes back. Earlier, when they’d first arrived, the doctors hadn’t wanted to speak to him. Even though Sammy had had Jack listed as his next of kin right after his eighteenth birthday a month before the combine, they didn’t seem to care until they realized Jack wasn’t going to leave and Sammy would leave if they wouldn’t talk in front of Jack.

It was a minor fracture, all things considered. And those ‘things’ were that Chickenfoot was known to have a hundred mile an hour slapshot, which seemed to be out in full force when Sammy put himself between Chickenfoot and Myers. 

Jack hadn’t seen it from the bench. He’d been watching, obviously, and paying attention - it was just the wrong angle, Sammy was blocked from his view, and Sammy had just skated off the fucking ice like nothing had happened. Jack hadn’t even known he was supposed to be worried.

“You just walked out,” Jack mutters. He wants to reach for Sammy’s hand but he can’t, even though the doctor isn’t there anymore and they’re alone. Just waiting the nurse to bring them prescriptions and a proper brace for Sammy’s ankle. “You walked right past me without saying anything.”

“I didn’t want to scare you,” Sammy admits sheepishly, looking away. “It… hurt a lot. I was pretty sure if I tried to say anything I’d puke. I did puke in the locker room.”

It doesn’t take long for Sammy to be discharged but it’s the early hours of the morning. Jack had come into the locker room after the game to find Sammy already gone, a note saying to call him in Jack’s locker, and  _ that _ hadn’t been terrifying. 

They have a second floor apartment but they take the elevator because Sammy can barely navigate the lobby with his crutches. Jack has to steady him twice before they even reach the elevator, and leaves a hand on Sammy’s back when they’re alone in their hallway. Jack helps Sammy get ready for bed, even through Sammy’s protests.

“I can take the brace off and put it back on,” he argues. “It’s not  _ broken _ , it’s just to stabilize it and keep the swelling down.”

Jack gives him a steady look. “I want to help.”

Sammy meets his eyes and then nods, letting Jack finish helping him before pulling him into bed. “You’re gonna make it worse,” Sammy mutters when Jack tries to wrestle him into being the little spoon. 

Jack ignores him until he gets his arms wrapped securely around Sammy. “ _ It’s not broken _ ,” he mocks quietly. 

Sammy makes a show of getting out of Jack’s grasp and then immediately settles back against his chest. “Don’t tease me, I’m injured.”

“You’re gonna milk this for as long as you can, aren’t you?” Jack predicts.

Sammy hums in response. “I don’t know what you could be implying.”

“Maybe I just remember when you got sick two years ago and made me bring soup to your billet parents house, even though your billet mom would have made you some?” 

“I seem to remember you  _ offering _ ,” Sammy says. “You were so worried after I missed school that you showed up with it, is what I think happened.”

“Agree to disagree?” Jack offers with a laugh.

Sammy shifts awkwardly in Jack’s arms to face him. “You had the biggest crush on me.”

Jack rolls his eyes. “Babe,” he says evenly, and then he kisses Sammy quickly. “That’s all you get. We have to get you to physio in like six hours.”

Sammy sighs and nudges his head against Jack’s neck. “Fine.”

Jack presses one last kiss to the top of his head before letting himself drift off to sleep.

The team’s physiotherapist confirms the doctors assessment of six to eight weeks for Sammy’s ankle to be back in working condition. 

“That’s like half the season!” Sammy complains in the car.

Jack resists the urge to roll his eyes. “It’s two months, at most.”

“ _ Babe _ ,” Sammy whines, and Jack can’t even hazard a glance across the car to see whatever pitiful expression Sammy is making. “I can’t play hockey for two months.”

Jack gives into the urge. “I dragged you to practice all through senior year, buddy, convince me you won’t love the break.”

“Okay, maybe a little bit,” Sammy admits. “But I hate physio. Dr. Rosenblum freaks me out.”

Jack had to give him that. “He’s a bit weird. But you got yourself into this, so you’ll just have to do it.”

Sammy groans and Jack just reaches over to pat his knee idly.

They have another game the next evening and Sammy grumbles the whole way there.

“You could have stayed home,” Jack reminds them before they get out of the car. 

“And miss seeing you in your gameday suit? Never,” Sammy replies.

Jack laughs. “You would have seen me at home, you dork.”

Sammy shrugs and looks around before getting out of the car. “People would have thought I was dead or something if I didn’t show. It would look pretty bad.”

He’s right and Jack knows it. They walk in together until they reach the locker room, and Jack goes in while Sammy keeps walking to the arena to go to the team box, where he’ll have to suffer through watching with the GM and other corporate guys. Jack hasn’t really met any of the guys wives or girlfriends, yet, but he hopes that whichever ones are there today are nice and Sammy can talk to them.

“Where’s Stevie?” Escobar asks when he walks in, and Jack just shakes his head and walks over to his spot.

One of the reporters still milling about jumps on that, though. “Do you have anything to say about Stevens’ injury?” he asks, turning from one of the other guys to Jack in what seems like mid-conversation.

Jack just shrugs, taking off his suit jacket and hanging it up, trying to ignore the cameras. “You’d have to ask Dr. Rosenblum.”

“We thought you were gonna play a bit of sexy nurse,” Escobar shouts from across the room, and someone else whistles.

“Fuck off, Pete!” Jack replies and turns sheepishly back to the reporter. “Sammy and I are roommates,” he offers as explanation. “I’m not a doctor, so I don’t know how his ankle is or anything about the healing, but Sammy’s fine. Excited to get back in the game as soon as is safe and possible.”

The reporter nods and before he can ask another question, the coaches come in and usher the media out. Jack lets out a sigh of relief and starts to change while the coaches talk.

They win the game. It was tied at two until the last five minutes and then Finn had managed to get a last goal in. The locker room is buzzing afterwards and it’s agreed that they’ll hit one of the bars downtown.

“-support the boys, you know,” Sammy says awkwardly to some of the assembled reporters outside the locker room, looking around before his eyes land on Jack as he exits. “Have a good evening,” he adds politely, nodding to them before going to meet Jack.

“You down to go out with the team?” Jack asks, keeping his voice low and starting to walk towards the parking garage.

Sammy nods. “Yeah. I might not stay that long, but I’ll call an Uber or something.”

“We don’t have to go if you don’t want to,” Jack says, opening the door at the end of the hall for Sammy.

“I don’t want to keep you from the celebration.” Sammy isn’t looking back at Jack as he speaks and Jack feels himself start to frown.

“I wouldn’t have any fun without you,” Jack says, coming up beside him and quickly touching his hand where it rests on the crutch. “If you don’t wanna go, we can just go home and watch a movie.”

Sammy shakes his head. “I wanna go. Don’t worry about it.”

Jack frowns for real. “Okay. Tell me as soon as you wanna go, though.”

Sammy just nods but doesn’t respond and Jack forces himself not to sigh as they walk the rest of the way to the garage.

Parking downtown is hell, as always. The bar they agreed on isn’t far enough from the arena, and there are clearly at least some fans around after the game. 

“Are you sure you want to go out?” Jack asks again when he finally finds a place and parks, about a block away from the actual bar. 

“Yes, Jack,” Sammy says tiredly, and Jack presses his lips together before getting out of the car. Sammy follows him and Jack waits so they can walk next to each other. “I’m not mad,” he says quietly. “If  _ you _ don’t want to be here, we can leave and you can blame me.”

“No, I - I want to celebrate and see the guys,” Jack says earnestly. He shoves his hands in his pockets when he realizes he’s using them to talk. “I just… I’d always rather be hanging out with you, right? So if you aren’t gonna be there, or you will be but you’re not having a good time, then I’m not having a good time. So I wanna go, but I only wanna go if  _ you _ want to. You know?” He’s sure he hasn’t made his point but he looks at Sammy anyway, hoping that he’s been understood.

Sammy nods, because of course he does. “Okay. How about we just stay for an hour - I won’t have time to be annoyed and you can enjoy a round with the other guys. Does that work?”

Jack touches his hand quickly as they round the corner. “Okay.”

The bar is crowded when they get there but people part easily for Sammy and Jack follows him towards the bar where the other guys have congregated. The starting goalie was in the centre of it, with Myers off to the side looking a little bummed that he didn’t get played in the game. Finn and the other guys with goals were also around being congratulated and Sammy tries not to be disappointed because he’d kind of hoped to sit down with Finn again. 

“I’ll just grab us some drinks and we can go sit down,” Jack says, as close to Sammy as he can get away with. In the crowd it’s closer than most times, his face near Sammy’s ear so that he can be heard. 

“No, it’s fine, stay here,” Sammy replies. “You’re here to talk to the guys, so talk to them. I’ll be fine.”

Jack hid his frown well but Sammy could still see it in his eyes. “If you’re sure.”

“It’s really fine,” Sammy repeats earnestly, meeting Jack’s eyes. Jack just nods and turns towards the bar, enthusiastically greeting some of the other guys.

Sammy looks around awkwardly and then goes to sit in a booth at the side where he can pull his crutches in and out of everyone’s way. One of the guys he barely knows comes over to ask about his ankle and they talk for a while but Sammy keeps his attention mostly on Jack at the bar. A few girls approach the hockey players and start to flirt with them. Include Jack - not that he appears to notice. After a few minutes, the girls leaves, and the guys say something that makes Jack duck his head. 

“Lefty’s got no game,” Myers says, leaning against the wall near the booth, and Sammy hadn’t even seen him walk over.

“Yeah,” Sammy replies awkwardly.

“We’ve been out how many times and he’s never pulled?” Myers continues, sliding into the booth. “He’d only have to snap his fingers and the puckbunnies would follow him anywhere.”

Sammy makes a non-committal noise.

“He should at least wingman for the rest of it if he isn’t takin’ any of the goods.”

Sammy sort of can’t believe Myers is still talking. “It isn’t his fault you’ve got worse game, Escobar,” he teases, but his tone is mostly flat.

“Yeah, whatever. Hey, want anything?” he asks, sliding out of the booth again. “I’m gonna grab another drink.”

Sammy shakes his head. “I’m actually gonna head out. It was good seeing everyone.” He gets out of the booth awkwardly and arranges himself with the crutches before giving Myers an awkward wave and started to leave.

He makes it to the street corner when Jack catches up. “Hey,” Jack says, slightly breathless. “You didn’t tell me you were leaving.”

Sammy shrugs. “I just needed some air. I was gonna text you from the car, so people wouldn’t see us leave together.”

“People know we live together, it’s not  _ that _ weird to leave together,” Jack says.

“I know but -” Sammy sighs. “Myers was saying - look, it doesn’t matter, okay? It’s stupid.”

“No, what is it?” Jack asks, visibly concerned. 

“People have started to notice you get hit on and don’t - react or anything,” Sammy says awkwardly. “If you wanna like - pretend, or - or whatever so people don’t notice. I wouldn’t be mad at you.”

Jack doesn’t answer right away and Sammy can’t look at him, kind of hopes that the street will open and swallow him. “I wouldn’t even know how,” he says quietly. “I know we’ve only ‘officially’ been dating for like a year, but I’ve loved you since we were sixteen. I’m pretty sure I’ve never even had a crush on anyone else - I really don’t know how people act.”

Sammy can’t help but smile a little at that. “Sap,” he mutters. “But - I’m serious. I won’t be mad or anything if you tell the guys you did do something.”

“I’m not ready to tell people about us either,” Jack says, “but I’m not gonna lie.”

Sammy nods. “Okay. But -”

“You wouldn’t be mad, I got that,” Jack says lightly. “Luckily it won’t come up. Ever again.”

Sammy’s sitting at the cramped kitchen table in a pair of boxers and a t-shirt, one of his crutches leaning against the edge next to him, and watching some video on his phone with his earbuds in while Jack goes about making breakfast for them. It’s just eggs and bacon, because Jack still hasn’t got the hang of elaborate cooking and neither of them really care, anyway. When Jack had suggested Sammy cook for  _ him _ because  _ he _ was the one whole played a whole hockey game last night and was now feeling it all over, Sammy had just given him a wide-eyed and pitiful look. “I can’t stand up for that long,” he’d said, and Jack had sighed and rolled out of bed to start on it.

“What’re you watching?” Jack asks when Sammy makes a noise that sounds almost like a laugh.

“Someone tweeted me a video from the locker room last night,” he answers, pulling his earbuds out and letting them fall on the table. “Are you saying you  _ aren’t _ my sexy nurse?”

Jack rolls his eyes and turns back to the stove before he hears Sammy push his chair out, and the awkward two half-steps he has to take before Sammy’s hands wrap around his waist and Sammy drops his head to Jack’s shoulder. “I’m not your caretaker,” Jack mutters, pulling the pans off the heat. 

“You kind of are, though,” Sammy replies, voice mostly muffled by Jack’s neck. 

Jack plates the food quickly. “And you’re a big baby. Get off me so we can eat.”

“I’m comfy here, now,” Sammy says, and Jack can hear the frown in his voice.

Jack covers Sammy’s hand with one of his and carefully laces his fingers with Sammy’s, using that to pull Sammy’s hand away from his stomach and stepping to the side. “The egg’s will get gross and I’m not making more.”

Sammy sighs but he grabs a plate and follows Jack back to the table, making a show of how difficult the steps were. 

“I’m not the one who left the crutch,” Jack reminds him, and Sammy just grins.

“It’s all a ploy for sympathy,” he says, sitting down heavily and digging in so quickly it was like  _ he’d  _ burned a few thousand calories last night. 

“I figured that one out, babe,” Jack replies, starting to eat his breakfast more slowly even though he could feel his stomach rumbling. 

“I’m sorry,” Sammy and Jack say at the same time, and then they both laugh.

“You first,” Jack says.

“I was just being… I don’t even know, I guess I was in a bad mood last night,” Sammy says. “I was being dramatic.”

“You’re always dramatic,” Jack replies fondly, reaching across the table to take Sammy’s hand. “I’m sorry I left you alone with Escobar.”

“Is  _ that _ what you’re sorry for?” Sammy asks with a grin.

Jack shrugs. “He kinda sucks.”

Sammy can’t help but laugh. “Yeah. You’re forgiven.”

Jack stands up and puts his plate on top of Sammy’s before leaning down to kiss him. “I understand your concerns but I don’t think any of the guys are gonna put it together any time in this century.”

Allie  
@hockeygay   
see y’all i’ve been SAYIN stevie doesnt hold him back! lefty did gr8 (as always.. we stan) but he had an open shot on goal and missed. he needs his boy!  7:33 PM - 10 November 20xx  24  32 

Kayly  
@devilsg1rl   
@hockeygay that just means he’s distracted that stevie’s injured lmao not that he makes him better. it proves the rest of us right really. (Information Desk Person ) 7:35 PM - 10 November 20xx  4  7 

Allie  
@hockeygay   
anyway :-) lefty was cute and concerned in the locker room. more positive male friendship!  7:37 PM - 10 November 20xx  32  45 

Hockey Night   
@hockeynight   
Devil’s defenseman Sam Stevens set to return in the next home game following his ankle injury.  10:32 AM - 27 November 20xx  57  76 


	2. Rookies (Part 2)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so excited for the rest of this fic you guys have no idea.. It's finals week and I keep putting things off to write it!! I hope you're all enjoying :)
> 
> Just a note on coding: It won't work if you download it, have work skins off, or are looking on an Android device. For now, the skin is mainly visible on Desktop and Apple products as long as you have works skins on. I'm not really a coding expert but I'm looking into a better solution - if you have an idea or know anything about coding, lmk!

Jack’s parents invite them both over for Christmas, but they only have three days off so they stay in Newark.

“I’ve never had a real Christmas tree,” Jack admits as they get ready for their last game before the short break. 

Sammy pauses as he buttons up his shirt. “Seriously?”

Jack shrugs. “Yeah, I mean, I’ve only lived in California and Florida before this, you know? Pine trees aren’t exactly common.”

“We’re buying you a tree tomorrow,” Sammy says decisively, picking up his jacket from where he’d tossed it on the bed.

“I don’t even think we have any ornaments here,” Jack replies, following him out the door. “I don’t know about you but I don’t want a naked pine tree in our living room that just sits there and sheds.”

“Then we’ll buy those, too,” Sammy says.

Turns out that it’s hard to find a Christmas tree on Christmas Eve, even in Newark. Their first stop is at Home Depot where they pick up a few meters of coloured lights and two large trays of ornaments in red and green, along with a tree stand. They spend the rest of the day with Jack in the passenger’s seat googling where they have tree nurseries or farms or anywhere they can buy a live tree.

“This is the last one,” Jack announces as Sammy pulls into a Christmas tree yard two and a half hours away from their apartment.

Sammy pouts. “C’mon. We bought everything else!”

“It’s getting dark,” Jack reasons, “and we can always go back and buy a fake tree to put them on, just for this year.”

“Sure,” Sammy says after a beat. “Sorry for dragging you out here.”

Jack reached over and put his hand on Sammy’s. “It’s cute. Let’s go see if they’ve got any left, okay?”

They’ve got two left. Both are small, shorter than Sammy and Jack, and a little bit sparse. Sammy insists that Jack choose, and he chooses the uglier of the two. Sammy does a little victory dance anyway as they call over the older man staffing it, who refuses to let them cut it down despite their asking.

“It’s a liability,” he mutters, but lets Sammy and Jack carry it to the front where it gets wrapped up and paid for. He tries to give them a discount because it’s six o’clock on Christmas Eve and the tree isn’t exactly in its prime even now, but they pay for it in full anyway.

They haul it up the elevator and luckily don’t run into anyone else as they go back to their apartment. Sammy immediately gets to setting it up and it only almost crushes him once. It’s nearing midnight when Jack finally puts the plastic star he’d bought on top of the tree and they stand back together.

Sammy puts his arm around Jack’s waist and Jack rests his head on Sammy’s shoulder. “How do you like it?”

“I don’t care about the tree,” Jack admits, and Sammy makes an offended noise, twisting to try and look at him. “It’s cute!” he tries to add reassuringly. “But I would have loved it if it was fake or if we didn’t have a tree at all. I love it because you got it for me.”

“I just want us to have a really good first Christmas,” Sammy says quietly. “I’m sorry that we couldn’t go see your parents.”

Jack shrugs. “I want to spend it with you. For real. I would have worried the whole weekend that they’d see something and  _ know _ and then that would be the only thing we’d get to talk about the whole time.”

Sammy shudders theatrically. “Yeah. I’m glad we’re here, too.”

Sammy wakes up early on Christmas morning - before Jack, which is unusual enough as it is - and goes out to bring the gifts to the living room. The ones he’d bought for Jack - a video game he’d wanted but Sammy knew he hadn’t gotten around to getting yet, a few small things he’d seen that had made him think of Jack, and a box set of some cryptid documentaries that Jack had been going on about lately - as well as the ones from Jack’s parents and Lily. There weren’t any from Sammy’s parents, but they didn’t even know Sammy’s new address so he wasn’t expecting it, and he didn’t know where Jack had hid his gifts for Sammy. After making it look all nice, he goes into the kitchen and starts the coffee, looking around for something to eat. 

“Merry Christmas,” Jack says quietly, sidling up next to Sammy and pulling him into a kiss.

Sammy smiles against his mouth. “Merry Christmas,” he replies.

“I woke up and you weren’t there,” Jack says. 

“I just wanted everything to be perfect,” Sammy replies. “Do you have anything else to put under the tree?”

Jack nods. “I brought it out with me. It’s too early, though - I want to pretend we didn’t get out of bed.”

Sammy follows him back to bed and they don’t get out until Jack’s phone starts to ring two hours later. “It’s probably my parents,” Jack mutters, pushing himself off of Sammy and reaching out for where his phone was plugged in on the nightstand. “Hello?”

Jack suddenly sits up properly and gives Sammy a confused look. “Uh, yeah. Yeah, sure, we didn’t have any plans. Let me just -” Jack covers the phone with his hand, not that it does much with a smartphone, and turns to Sammy. “Ron wants to know if we want to go to his house for dinner.”

Sammy feels himself mirror Jack’s confused look. “Okay. Sure, let’s do it. Why not?”

Jack moves the phone back to his head and relays this to Ron, and they agree to go over that evening. “That was weird,” Jack says as he hangs up. 

“Yeah. Do you wanna open gifts now?” Sammy asks with a grin, already getting out of bed and pulling on a pair of boxers and a t-shirt. 

Jack rolls his eyes but follows him out of the room. 

The coffee in the kitchen is cold so Sammy dumbs it and sets a new pot on before going to the living room. They gave each other their gifts first and Jack is delighted with the documentaries.

“The real gift is that I’ll watch them with you without complaining,” Sammy says with a grin, and Jack just gives him a wide smile and leans over to kiss him.

“I have a hard time believe that, but thank you,” Jack replies. “I love it.”

Sammy opens up a blanket from Jack, which he immediately wraps around himself. “‘Cause you’re always saying how cold it is in here,” Jack explains.

“I love you,” Sammy says, because there isn’t really anything else to say. He leans forwards and kisses Jack, leaning over their small pile of gifts.

Ron lives in a suburb just outside Newark. It isn’t that far from Sammy and Jack’s apartment but it feels like it, as they cross the river and enter what seems like a completely different world of separated housing.

“Should we have brought something?” Jack asks, agitated, as they pull up. “What do people bring to Christmas dinner?”

“Wine?” Sammy suggests. “We can’t really buy that and he knows it. Did he say anything on the phone this morning?”

Jack shakes his head. “No, but -”

“Then it’s fine,” Sammy says, reaching over and putting his hand lightly on Jack’s, which was clutching the wheel too tightly. “He’s not gonna care.”

Jack takes a deep breath and loosens his grip on the wheel. “Yeah, of course. Yeah. Oh, shit, we didn’t bring him a gift or anything!” His shoulders tense again and Sammy laces their fingers together to at least give him that.

“It’s fine,” Sammy repeats. “It was last minute, all the stores are closed, I’m sure he won’t expect anything. Take a deep breath.”

Jack nods and does as Sammy asks. “Okay. You’re right.”

“Usually,” Sammy says with a grin, which makes Jack roll his eyes. 

“Let’s just - do this, then.” Jack lets go of Sammy’s hand reluctantly and gets out of the car. They go up and Sammy knocks on the door and immediately are greeting by a single, deep bark. Jack gives Sammy a delighted look before Ron opens the door.

“Welcome. I hope neither of you mind the dog,” he says as he lets them in. 

“Absolutely not,” Jack says reassuringly, craning his neck to see the big dog sitting at the end of the hall, watching them. “Can we say hello?”

Ron nods and leads them into the house after they’ve removed their boots and jackets. “Kingsie’s real friendly. She’s only bit a few people.”

Jack gives him an apprehensive look and Ron laughs. “I’m joking, kid. Kingsie wouldn’t hurt a fly.”

“Thanks for inviting us,” Sammy says as Jack sits on the floor and lets the dog sniff him.

Ron shrugs without looking at Sammy. “It’s nothing. I was planning a night in, thought you two might be left out here alone, too.”

Sammy nods. “Yeah, we were supposed to go to visit Jack’s parents but there wasn’t time.”

“I know how it can be… to be alone out here,” Ron says. “Thought I’d offer a hand.”

Sammy doesn’t ask why he didn’t invite the other rookie, why it was just Sammy and Jack. He didn’t want to have to say it.

Dinner is simple but better than anything they would have pulled together at their apartment. They’d been so focused on the tree that they’d forgotten to do any special shopping, so Sammy was sure they would have ended up just having regular pasta. At Ron’s, though, there’s a turkey and stuffing and mashed potatoes. It isn’t elaborate and it seems mostly store-bought but it’s more than they had expected.

“Thanks for having us over,” Sammy says when they finally get ready to leave, much later than they’d intended. “Jack appreciates it, too,” he adds lightly, nodding over to where Jack was bent down saying bye to Kingsie.

Ron smiles. “She doesn’t normally come out for strangers, so she must like him a whole lot.”

“He’ll be glad to hear that,” Sammy says, smiling at Jack fondly. 

“You boys are welcome here anytime,” Ron continues. “I’m sure Kingsie will love the company.”

Sammy laughs. “You don’t want him to hear that. He’ll be over tomorrow after I tell him he can’t have a dog.”

Predictably, it’s the first thing that Jack asks when they get in the car. 

“No,” Sammy answers. “First off, there isn’t enough room in the apartment. Second, you won’t let me have a cat, which there is enough room for.”

Jack pouts. “When we get a house, then,” he says decisively, and Sammy sighs.

“Maybe,” he says tentatively, but he knows that he’ll cave when the time comes. “We’ll talk about it.”

The smile Jack gives him makes Sammy feel warm to his core.

“There was something else I wanted to tell you,” Sammy continues awkwardly, and Jack looks at him questioningly. “I applied to do a journalism degree. It’s an online program, and I’m only thinking of doing it part time but - you know. I’m just. Thinking ahead.”

“You’re not gonna get knocked out,” Jack says. “I know you -” he pauses. “They’re not gonna cut you, you’re not gonna end up in minors.”

“It’s not that,” Sammy replies. “I don’t - I kind of know that. I’m doing this because I want to.”

Jack grins again and - yeah, the warm feeling in Sammy’s gut any time he manages to make Jack look like that. Pride and happiness. “Then that’s great.”

There’s a part of Sammy that’s always surprised every day he continues playing hockey. It’s his career, yes, but it wasn’t his passion. He wanted to quit before he ended up in juniors, his parents pushing for it because he’d been scouted - and maybe to get rid of him, he could never be sure. He’d spoken to them once after being drafted, a phone call a few days later. He’d had to step out of apartment hunting to take it, his mom had congratulated him and hadn’t mentioned Jack, even though she’d met him. Knew that he and Sammy were friends, at least. 

In juniors, he hadn’t quit because of Jack. He would have had to move back up north, back to the midwestern suburbs he’d grown up in, and he wouldn’t have been by Jack’s side the way he wanted to be.

He wasn’t sure why he didn’t quit now, when quitting wouldn’t mean he’d  _ have _ to leave Jack - he could start full time university in Newark, do anything, stay here. It was just never bad enough to quit, and for all his grumbling he knew that he was good at it. If he wasn’t, he wouldn’t get  _ any _ ice time. Still, he doesn’t consider himself a jock. Not the way Jack is, and definitely not the way the other guys on the team are.  _ Definitely _ not them.

“Hey,” Ron says forcefully in the locker room about two weeks after Christmas break, and that gets Sammy’s attention because Ron doesn’t speak up in the locker room. “Knock it off.”

He can’t even tell who Ron’s talking to. It could be anyone, he hadn’t been paying attention - he’d gotten used to tuning out the locker room banter over the years, would rather not know. But Jack looks red in the face, angry about something, so Sammy gives him a questioning look and he just shakes his head.

“What was it?” he asks later, not in the car - when they’re back in the apartment, far enough removed that Jack doesn’t look mad anymore. He’d been fuming in the car the whole way home.

Jack shrugs. “Just - regular bullshit.”

“You ignore regular bullshit,” Sammy points out. “What was it?”

“It wasn’t - about any of us,” he says slowly, which isn’t reassuring. “It was just Landy and Brandon being dicks.”

“They’re always dicks,” Sammy replies, and Jack shrugs.

“Sure, yeah, I know. It was stupid, just - Landy was like ‘gay people deserve what they get if they come to our bars’ or something - except he didn’t say ‘gay people’ - and, I don’t know. I guess something happened last weekend to prompt it, but -”

Sammy interrupts him by getting up and putting his hands of Jacks’, forcing him to stop wringing them. “Landon’s an asshole,” he says, and Jack laughs weakly. “I know you already know this but he’s not worth being mad about. He’s not gonna learn shit.”

“Doesn’t mean I like to hear it,” Jack points out, face downturned.

Sammy nods. “Ron’s got our backs, though.”

“Yeah, guess so,” Jack mutters, “He has a vested interested.”

Sammy leans forward and kisses the side of Jack’s head. “Do you want me to order Chinese from that place you like? I won’t tell the nutritionist.”

Jack grins.

Allie   
@hockeygay   
y’all i’m gonna kill [redacted] w my bare fucking hands]  8:23 PM - 5 February 20xx  51  77 

Kayly   
@devilsg1rl   
everyone needs to cut gladstone some slack, he apologized lol. who hasn’t said something wrong sometimes!!  8:29 PM - 5 February 20xx  4  12 

Allie   
@hockeygay   
@devilsg1rl idk about you but i’ve never said That in a moment of anger. b/c that’s awful. what’s 5k to a hockey player anyway?? this asshole’s making 4m/yr at least dent the bucket honestly  8:32 PM - 5 February 20xx  14  23 

Lindsey   
@hockey-and-chill   
whatever you think of wright honestly what gladstone did was reprehensible and he deserves more than a fine  8:45 PM - 5 February 20xx  26  31 

Sammy doesn’t notice that anything’s wrong after that game. They skip the drinking and go home, Jack says he doesn’t want to go even though they won and Sammy doesn’t question it. Jack kisses him as soon as they’re through the door, and that’s normal - Sammy kisses him back and most of their game day suits end up on the floor between the door and their bedroom. 

When Sammy wakes up, Jack is still asleep. He’s laying on his front with an arm slung over Sammy’s chest, so Sammy doesn’t get out of bed. He just reaches over and grabs his phone, turning off the alarm before checking twitter.

That’s when he realizes something is wrong.

Jack wakes up alone and sort of cold. The blankets were moved around and left a draft going through, so he drags himself out and pulls on a pair of sweats and a t-shirt. He finds Sammy drinking coffee with his arms resting on the windowsill in the living room, window wide open and letting the cold February air in. “What’s up?” Jack asks, walking up behind him and resting his front against Sammy’s back, hooking his chin on Sammy’s shoulder.

“Why didn’t you tell me about Gladstone?” Sammy asks, turning his head slightly.

Jack shrugs awkwardly, looking forwards to keep from meeting Sammy’s eyes. “Didn’t think it would matter. Who told you?”

“The whole internet,” Sammy replies. “Looks like he’s gonna be suspended.”

Jack feels his eyebrows pull together and he shifts to look at Sammy out of the corner of his eyes.. “I didn’t think anyone who heard it cared. It was just next to their bench, and his teammates sure didn’t give a shit that he called me a fag.”

“Camera got it. Someone next to him was mic’d up so it got picked up there, plus the lip reading,” Sammy explains. “He’s not gonna get a big punishment but fans are calling for something.”

“Am I gonna have to say anything?” Jack asks, something starting to roll in the pit of his stomach. He doesn’t want to lie but he isn’t sure what he could possibly say.

“You could always just retweet You Can Play or something,” Sammy offers. “But - why didn’t you tell me? You didn’t answer.”

Jack turns his face into Sammy’s neck. “S’not the first time it’s happened. Won’t be the last. I didn’t think you’d have to deal with it.”

“I don’t want you to have to be alone dealing with this shit,” Sammy says, turning around and putting his mug on the side table so he can put his arms around Jack’s shoulders. “We’re in this together. You have to let me carry some of the load.”

Jack nods but doesn’t meet Sammy’s eyes. “I know. I just - I know people bother you about it less. I didn’t want you to have to.”

“I want to help.” Sammy stares at Jack until he looks up and meets his eyes. “Okay? I want to be able to be here for you. That means you have to tell me when shit happens - on or off the ice.”

“I will,” Jack answers quietly.

“Promise?”

Jack smiles at him tightly. “Promise.”

They don’t make the playoffs. They don’t even make the first round. Everyone’s disappointed when it gets far enough that this is certain, but the younger Russians at least mask their excitement at booking flights home. 

“Are you gonna go to California? See your parents?” Sammy asks when they’re laying on the couch, finally watching the miniseries Sammy had bought Jack for Christmas.

“Did you want to visit them?” Jack replies, pausing it because of course he wouldn’t want to miss a second.

Sammy shrugs. “If that’s what you wanna do, it’s fine.”

“Maybe for a week or two,” Jack admits. “Not all summer. I wanna be here with you.”

Sammy tightens his grip around Jack’s middle. Jack had laid down on top of him because “that way you can’t get away” and Sammy had let him stay there even as he started to lose feeling in his legs. “We should probably find a trainer then.”

“There’s a bunch in New York if we wanna commute,” Jack offers. “We could do all the dumb tourist things we haven’t yet.”

They call a trainer the next day and make a regular appointment. It’s on Staten Island, so it’s not that far, but they find themselves driving all the way into New York most days whether they have training or not. 

It’s not long before they have to fly to Vegas along with a few other guys on the team with their best suits for the awards. They get two rooms because they can’t find a reason to justify a roommate situation but Jack sneaks into Sammy’s room after they get dinner with the guys they know when the rest of them go out to casinos. 

“Do you think we’ll see them tomorrow?” Sammy asks jokingly as they lie in bed and just watch the TV together.

“Management will have their heads if they don’t show and end up winning,” Jack points out.

Sammy laughs. “Yeah, but who’s gonna find them?”

“Not me, that’s for sure,” Jack answers. “I couldn’t pick half of them out of a line up.”

“Don’t tell the media that when you win,” Sammy says.

Jack rolls his eyes and turns to kiss Sammy. “Don’t jinx it.”

Sammy’s pretty sure he doesn’t have the ability to jinx anything, doesn’t have the significance within the universe or the NHL organization, because the next night they call Jack’s name as the Calder winner and he goes up to accept it with a wide grin.

“I just want to thank my parents, my best friend and teammate, Sammy, and my sister, Lily, who couldn’t be here tonight and said she’d kill me if I mentioned her,” Jack says with an uncomfortable laugh. “So - thanks. And thanks to everyone who decided I deserved this honour.”

Jack goes back to sit with Sammy for the rest of the ceremony, knocking their knees together when he sits down, but they have to split up for Jack to do a media tour and a social event with the other winners. Jack parents, who’d arrived earlier that morning and got lunch with them, are able to go with him but Sammy heads to his room alone.

He’s woken up by the sound of the door opening and catching on the secondary lock. Jack curses quietly and Sammy stumbles up to let him in.

“Did you not want me here?” Jack asks quietly, and his voice sounds small.

Sammy shakes his head and locks the door behind Jack. “Habit,” he replies quietly, and leads Jack back to the bed. Jack quickly strips down to his boxers and crawls in next to Sammy, pressing himself against Sammy’s side with a sigh.

“That bad?” Sammy asks, rubbing a hand against Jack’s back.

“It was fine,” Jack answers. “Just don’t like the small talk, you know. Trying to impress them.”

“They’re already impressed with you,” Sammy says evenly, closing his eyes.

Jack shrugs. “I guess. I wish you were there. What did you do?”

“Got room service and watched - something. Can’t remember,” Sammy replies.

Jack hums in response but doesn’t answer, and Sammy finds himself quickly falling back to sleep after that.

The rest of their summer is - amazing. Jack does end up going back to California for a week in July and Sammy goes to training in New York and then immediately home, uses Uber Eats for food when he runs out of groceries, and then Jack comes back and takes him shopping. Jack takes his hand in Central Park in August when they’re alone and it’s the best thirty seconds of Sammy’s life up to that point, maybe. Sammy’s parents don’t call and he doesn’t realize until guys are coming back into town for the start of training camp.

They hang out with Lily more than Sammy expected. She’d stayed in New York after the school year ended because of her internship and Sammy quizzed her about her profs and classes.

“Why do you want to know?” she asks as the three of them sit on a park bench next to a duck pond, just basking in the fleeting warmth.

“I got accepted into a journalism program,” he admits awkwardly, and he hears Jack gasp and feels him sit up straight next to him.

“You didn’t tell me!” Jack exclaims, shoving Sammy’s shoulder. “When do you start?”

“This fall,” he answers, and Jack looks around for a second before hugging him tight, then letting go. 

“I’m so proud of you,” Jack says. “You’re gonna do amazing.”

“I don’t know,” Lily says dismissively, pushing her sunglasses up her nose and pretending she wasn’t looking at them. “You’re such a jock I’d be surprised.”

“You’re gonna be great,” Jack repeats with conviction and Sammy laughs.

“I haven’t even started,” he reminds them. “Maybe I won’t even like it.”

“I can see it now,” Jack says, leaning back. “Graduating with honours.”

Sammy rolls his eyes and shoves his shoulder. “You’re gonna jinx it.”

Jack Wright   
@jwright68   
let’s get this bread!! (Flexed Biceps ) @samstevens67 1:37 PM - 3 July 20xx  126  159 

Carolyn   
@florida--man   
listen i dont rly follow hockey but i knew lefty and stevie in hs and let me just say… (Two Men Holding Hands )(Eyes )(Eyes ) 10:46 AM - 17 July 20xx  7  13 

Kayly   
@devilsg1rl   
@florida--man have u even seen how many puckbunnies say they hooked up w lefty??? look at him.  11:03 AM - 17 July 20xx  3  6 

Carolyn   
@florida--man   
@devilsg1rl sure and puckbunnies never lie ofc  11:14 AM - 17 July 20xx  8  10 

Allie   
@hockeygay   
some ppl need to stay in their lane and not expose/gossip abt public figures.. they don’t owe us anything.. im gonna take my own advice and log off for my date lol (Victory Hand ) 1:26 PM - 17 July 20xx  17  21 


	3. Locker Room Talk

Going to Ron’s house for dinner becomes a semi-regular occurrence in their second season. They don’t really talk in the locker room, and Sammy wonders if it’s Ron not talking to them so that people don’t associate the three of them or if it’s something else. Most people in the locker room seemed to know that Ron had taken the two of them under his wing, but it hadn’t seemed to hit the media at all - though Sammy doesn’t really follow anything, so he couldn’t say for sure.

Ron cooks for them and sometimes they manage to remember to bring something along with them. Usually it’s just whatever they found in the grocery store bakery - a pie or bread sticks or something else easy. One time Jack had tried to make something that would work with their diet and had set off the fire alarm, causing most of the people on their floor to complain when it set their neighbours’ normally quiet dog off barking.

“I’ve been doing some thinking,” Ron says when they walk into his house and Jack immediately goes to say hi to Kingsie as usual.

“What about, Ron?” Sammy asks, following him into the small dining room.

“I’ll wait ‘til Jack’s done with his greetings,” Ron says. “Come help me grab things from the kitchen.”

Sammy follows him and Ron motions to the stove where there’s a plate covered in foil that Sammy grabs while Ron takes plates and utensils out of the cabinets, and they go back and set the table quietly until Jack joins them with Kingsie at his heels.

They start to eat and Sammy’s curious about what Ron had said at the beginning of their meal, but he doesn’t bring it up. They’re nearly finished eating when Ron interrupts his own shop-talk by falling silent.

“I’ve been doing a lot of thinking,” he says again, not quite looking at either of them. “I’ve decided I’m going to retire after this season.”

Jack starts to say something but Ron holds up a hand.

“I’m not done. I’m not young, and it’s time - time for me to be honest,” Ron continues. “So I’m going to retire. And then, after that, I’m going to come out.”

No says anything right away. Ron looks up at them and they all just watch each other quietly for a second. Sammy realizes all at once that Ron looks tired, and much older than this years. For as much as he said he wasn’t young, he was still much younger than most guys when they retired.

“That’s - wow,” Jack says finally, breaking the silence of the table. “That’s big.”

Ron nods. “Unless something happens between now and then, I’d be the first.”

“Wow,” Sammy echoes.

“I’m not saying this to -” Ron pauses and restarts. “I’m not looking for permission. I won’t say anything about anyone other than myself. I would never, that’s the worst thing you could do to a person. But - if either of you wanted to do something with this information. Plan something. I’d back you boys up.”

Sammy and Jack turn to look at each other at the same time. Jack’s eyes are wide and Sammy can’t quite read the expression on his face - scared, maybe. Something else hidden behind it. Sammy has no idea what expression is on his own face in that moment. He isn’t sure he wants to know.

“Thank you, Ron,” Jack says earnestly. “We’ll be behind you, too.”

They don’t talk about it until they get back home. Their apartment with only one furnished bedroom and a framed photo of them that Lily took in the summer, where they’re sitting on a bench in central park just looking at each other, not knowing that she was coming up behind them. Plausible deniability.

“Should we?” Jack asks. They’re sitting on the couch but the TV’s still off.

Sammy bites his lip. “I don’t -” he stops. Looks at Jack. They’re sitting on the couch but they aren’t touching. “It still scares me. So fucking much. I wish it didn’t.”

“Me too,” Jack says, and there’s the look again. The look from Ron’s house - fear and something else. He moves closer and Sammy shifts his arm so that Jack can lean against him. It’s a practiced, familiar motion. One they’ve repeated hundreds of times. “I didn’t wanna be the first, and now we know we won’t have to be, but I don’t really wanna be the second, either.”

“I - when I think about _eventually_ , I can’t even - I can’t think about it,” Sammy says. He’s grateful he doesn’t have to look at Jack right now. Could only see the top of his head if he looked down. “I _know_ that eventually - whether we want it or not, people will find out. I wanna be the one to say it. But I don’t want to _have_ to.”

“I feel like we’re… letting Ron down,” Jack says slowly. “We haven’t even -”

“I know,” Sammy replies. He reaches over and takes Jack’s hand and threads their fingers together. “Should we?”

“It feels silly to - to sit him down and say it,” Jack continues. “He knows, obviously - and that’s. Good?”

“But - do you want to?” Sammy asks.

Jack nods. “Kind of. Could be - like, a trial run. We’ve never had to… tell anyone before. Not anyone that we didn’t _have_ to.”

“But - one day,” Sammy starts. “One day - what do we wanna do it? Eventually?”

Jack shifts so that he’s sitting up, looking at Sammy, but he doesn’t move away. “I think we should. Eventually. I want - something. A family.”

Relief fills Sammy. It wasn’t something they talked about - they’re nineteen, they’re way too young to start anything, but. He’d thought about it. More than he wanted to admit to. “Yeah. So - one day, then.”

Jack doesn’t answer. He leans forward and kisses Sammy, and that’s answer enough. For now.

Hockey Night   
@hockeynight   
Devil’s Defenseman Ron Begley Announces Retirement at 30  10:35 AM - 7 Dec 20xx  32  37 

Allie   
@hockeygay   
idr follow the devils (except for.. u kno..) but - thread of begley w team babies!! bc this man looks Wholesome w a baby: (1/??)  11:56 AM - 7 Dec 20xx  59  78 

Lindsey   
@hockey-and-chill   
not 2 expose myself but wife me up @ begley.. (Eyes )(Eyes ) 12:32 PM - 7 Dec 20xx  29  35 

Something changes in Ron after that night. Before, he was quiet in the locker room. Didn’t get too involved in group conversations, stuck near the older guys, didn’t draw attention to himself.

It isn’t that he gets loud or brash or anything. He doesn’t start acting like the rowdy guys - it’s more the opposite. He just starts speaking up, more, when the younger guys say things. Sammy doesn’t notice at first, but Jack does. Some of the other guys do, too.

“You’re close with Begley, right?” Myers asks when they’re skating off the ice at practice. Sammy is way behind them as Jack steps through the gate, still milling about on the ice.

“Sure,” Jack answers evenly, hedging his bets on whatever Myer’s is gonna follow up with. It was always a mixed bag with him, hard to predict his expectations.

“What’s his deal, lately?”

Jack shrugs one of his shoulders and lets it drop. “Dunno. Ask him.”

“He just seems -” Myers stops and looks around in an uncharacteristic show of restraint. “Seems a little too _sensitive_ , if you know what I mean?”

“No, I don’t know,” Jack says carefully, not quite looking at Myers as they kept walking. “You’d have to ask him.”

Myers scoffs and Jack can _hear_ him rolling his eyes as they continue down to the locker room, but he doesn’t bring it up again.

Jack nudges Sammy’s shoulder when they’re getting changed and Sammy just looks over and smiles at him questioningly, but Jack just smiles back quickly before finishing up. He waits until they’re in the car after practice to say anything.

“Ron really isn’t taking any shit right now,” he says.

“I guess he’s just tired,” Sammy replies, clearly distracted as he tries to get out of the garage. “I mean, he’s been doing this for like eight years, right? And before that he was in college hockey, which I’d think is worse. He’s probably ready to snap.”

“Do you think we’ll get to that point?” Jack asks quietly once their safely away from prying eyes - or ears. “One day we’ll just snap and tell people?”

“I mean, he isn’t _saying_ it,” Sammy points out.

Jack raises an eyebrow. “I know the guys are stupid, but do you really think he has to?” He doesn’t say anything about Myers - he knows that Sammy isn’t Myers’ biggest fan, knows that mentioning it would just put Sammy in a dower mood, so he keeps it to himself.

Sammy shrugs. “Wouldn’t be surprised if no one’s clued in.”

“I don’t know…” Jack presses his lips together.

“He’s gonna do it anyway, right?” Sammy continues. “He probably doesn’t care right now.”

“You’re right,” Jack agrees. “As long as he doesn’t say it, speculation won’t matter. No one’s gonna leak anything to the press when the guy’s gonna retire soon anyway.”

Sammy doesn’t reply right away, biting his lip as he drives. “Do you think we’re gonna wait that long?”

Jack looks down at his hands in his lap. “I don’t know. Maybe a bunch of guys will come out because Ron did, and it’ll be old news by next year and we’ll have no problem. We can’t know what’s gonna happen.”

“I guess,” Sammy agrees. “Even - like if everything goes amazing for Ron, which obviously I hope it does, and then out of nowhere half the fucking guys in the NHL come out, do you think _we_ will want to? Like, us?”

“Maybe?” Jack replies, looking over at Sammy with a worried expression. “I don’t - I really can’t - god, it just. It depends, you know? Maybe it’ll prove all our fears wrong, and then we’ll want to, or maybe it’ll prove them right and we’ll have to totally re-evaluate, or maybe it just. Won’t change anything.”

“We’ll take it day by day, then,” Sammy suggests. “If we wake up and both wanna do it then - we will. That’s when we will.”

Jack starts to reach towards Sammy and then stops and lets his hand fall back to his lap. “Day by day,” he agrees.

Their first playoff game is brutal. Sammy doesn’t expect to get any ice time but he gets shoved on at the end, somehow ending up still out there when the clock runs out and Jack throws his arms around him when they realize they’ve won. Their visors knock together and for a second Sammy can only see Jack, his wide grin, the freckles over the bridge of his nose that stay even through the winter.

And then they broke apart, gathered around the goalie to give a half-hug or a tap, and filed off the ice still buzzing with excitement.

Sammy isn’t bothered too much by the media. They ask him stuff, always, but they aren’t as concerned with him as they are with the captain and the goal scorers and the goalie. It’s only the first game - they’re starting it off on the right foot, but it doesn’t really matter the same way the rest will. He gets out quickly and waits for Jack in the hallway, playing on his phone. It doesn’t take too long for Jack to join him, knocking their shoulders together and going off towards the garage.

Jack barely lets Sammy get undressed before he’s pulling him towards the bed, not initiating anything - just wrapping his arms around Sammy and pulling him down on top of Jack, holding him tight.

“I can’t believe we’re here,” he says, voice quiet and reverent.

“Home?” Sammy teases.

Jack grins at him. “Playoffs! We didn’t even do this last year - God. I don’t even -”

Sammy put his hand over Jack’s mouth. “Can’t say anything about chances. You know the rules.”

Jack licks him and Sammy pulls his hand away, fanning it with disgust. “Seriously?” Jack laughs. “Of all the places my tongue has been, you’re grossed out by ‘palm’?”

Sammy blushes deep red and Jack pulls him in closer. “Context,” he mutters. “I can’t believe it either.”

“I always kinda dreamed of it, you know - playing in the NHL, yeah, but - this, more,” Jack says. “The real thing.”

“I know, you used to keep me up talking about it,” Sammy replies. “When we were in high school every time we had sleepovers it was like ‘we’re gonna win together, Sammy’.”

“Now who’s talking about chances?” Jack teases.

Sammy shakes his head. “I’m not saying anything about this year. Just about you.”

Jack kisses him and slackens his grip enough so he can move on top of Sammy. “We will, though,” Jack says against Sammy’s throat. “One day.”

They win the first round in five games and are knocked out in the second. It’s fine, it’s all that they hoped for. They car ride home is quiet after that last game, knowing the season is over now, knowing that their shot is gone for this year, but Sammy looks over at Jack in the near-dark of their car and his smile lights up everything.

* * *

**Locker Room Talk** by Ron Begley, for the Player's Tribune. 

“I’m gay.”

I told my dad when I was fourteen. He put down his beer and he looked at me and he asked, “Are you gonna keep playing hockey?”

In my dad’s mind I could either be out or play hockey. Not both. In my mind, too. It wasn’t even a question.

A year and a half after I told my dad my truth, my best friend asked me to be the godfather to her baby when she got mixed up with the wrong guy. I said yes. I said, “How’s this kid gonna grow up with a single mom and a gay dad?”

“Better than nothing.”

(She was right. The kid’s growing up great. Plays hockey better than me.)

So I watched her baby when she had to work at the mall, and she brought him to watch my games. People assumed he was mine, and I didn’t correct them - because he was, in a way. And it was better that way, kept people from asking any questions.

I grew up in a small town. You’ve probably never heard of it. It’s up in the mountains in Colorado. Everyone knew everyone, so no one could ever know anything. It wasn’t that I wanted to hide it, or that I was ashamed of it.

I’ll say it again. I’m gay.

But if I wanted to play hockey, no one could know. And I wanted to play hockey. That just wasn’t a career that you went into if you were gay.

I went to a juniors team in Denver. I commuted an hour and a half in a beat up car to play just so I could stay in my small town. I didn’t get drafted and I wondered if it was because people knew, somehow. You always wonder if people know.

So I went to college and studied business and played on the hockey team. Figured I’d graduate and take over running Begley’s Bait and Tackle back home. I’d give up hockey except for in the Winters when the lake froze over, where I taught my godson to skate as soon as he could walk. I didn’t deal in hypotheticals back then - that was the path I was planning. My five year plan - hell, it was a ten year plan. A life plan. Once I gave up hockey I’d own my identity publicly. That was part of the plan, too. Still is.

That’s not what happened. Not back then.

In my last semester of college my dad passed away, and I got a call from the Avs asking me to go to their development camp that summer. They said I had a shot at being on the team.

My mom died when I was young, and with my dad gone there was no one left to look after the shop. He didn’t have any employees, didn’t trust anyone with it. I wasn’t sure I could, either. I was barely twenty-one, I wasn’t ready to let go of the land I’d grown up on.

I said yes to the Avs and I spent that Summer interviewing people to run the shop. I spent too much money on an apartment in Denver. I went back to my small town as often as I could to take care of my shop and see my godson.

I didn’t have too much trouble with the Avs. I’m a big guy. I’m not the type people are going to sling slurs at in the locker room. I was always the biggest, the strongest, the fighter - and I liked fighting.

Halfway through my first season I met the man who would be my partner for most of my NHL career. He wasn’t out either so he was okay with the situation. No one could know. He couldn’t come watch games live like the other guys wives and girlfriends unless he bought his own tickets and we never saw each other in the arena. It worked out fine for us - he wasn’t much of a sports fan.

The team didn’t say anything about me. They thought that I was one of them, so they pulled me into their jokes. I didn’t say anything for too long, and then in my third season with the Avs I broke someone’s jaw. Broke my own fingers, too. He said something that crossed the line - it isn’t worth repeating. I got away with a slap on the wrist, because it happened on the ice. Clean fight.

They didn’t say anything about me after that, either. But they also stopped saying things to me because even if they didn’t know, they knew that I was different than them somehow.

I got traded to the Penguins before the end of that season. My partner and I did the long-distance thing. I only had to get through a few more months before I was home for the summer.

That was the first time my partner asked me about coming out. I was twenty-four. Ten years before, I came out to my dad. “Would you ever consider getting married?” was what he asked. I could hear my dad’s voice in my head the whole time, “Are you gonna keep playing hockey?”

I couldn’t have both. I told him we’d talk about it next year. We did, and I said “We’ll talk about it next year” again. I got traded to the Devils over the summer and he said “It’s a new start.”

I couldn’t have both, so we ended our relationship after my first season with the Devils. It wasn’t just the closet. That isn’t anyone’s business.

I thought about it. I considered it. Could I tell people and keep playing? So I tried. I told a few of the guys I’d come to trust. And I kept playing hockey, with a few guys on the ice knowing. They didn’t give me any trouble to my face.

I decided to retire when I got the invitation to my ex-partner’s wedding. I’m happy for him. I’m going to help pick out the place for the reception, and I have a few good ideas already. But it reminded me of what my dad asked me when I was fourteen. “Are you gonna keep playing hockey?”

I can’t have both. Maybe someone else can. Maybe there’s someone who’s coming or already in the league who can. But it isn’t for me.

I’m going home. I’m going to help my godson through his last years of high school and then whatever he chooses to do after that. I’m going to take over Begley’s Bait and Tackle.

“Are you gonna keep playing hockey?”

No. I can’t have both, and I’m choosing to own my truth.

* * *

Lindsey   
@hockey-and-chill   
oh! uh. feel weird abt what i said before. husband up my brother i guess?? (fr good for him!)  2:33 PM - 24 June 20xx  45  51 

Outsports   
@outsports   
Ron Begley comes out after retirement in Player’s Tribune article. “I could either be out or play hockey.” outsports.com/20xx/24/07/181... via @outsports 2:35 PM - 24 June 20xx  12  24 

New Jersey Devils   
@NJDevils   
Our team wishes Ron Begley the best in his retirement!  2:50 PM - 24 June 20xx  27  35 

Allie   
@hockeygay   
cant believe im gonna be a full time devils stan account now :/ (my gf would say i already was one but sh). in this house we Only love and respect begley thanks  2:59 PM - 24 June 20xx  37  53 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ron's tone in the article is how it is because I imagine an editor would go over it and also he's writing differently than he'd talk? idk part of the reason this took so long is because I'm posting them when I finished the chapter after and I took Forever to write the article rip
> 
> There were supposed to be images which you can find here because I couldn't figure out how to insert them well: http://calebmichaels.tumblr.com/post/181443012734/
> 
> ANYWAY i hope you all liked this !!!!! i'm so excited to share the next chapter also


	4. Jinx

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Listen I know that I don't need to be promo'ing helloearthling's because if you aren't reading her work then what are you reading in this fandom, but she's my best friend and I love her so - check out what she's just posted, subscribe to that wip, it's gonna be So good. She worked really hard on it and will deserve all the kudos it gets!

Sammy’s normal defensive partner is traded over the summer. While they were both passably good, they’d never really clicked - never really got to that next level needed to progress in the game. Sammy had always bemoaned the fact that Jack was too fast to be shoved back into defence, and Sammy himself was too slow to be a forward. They were barely ever on the ice together outside of practice, but those were the best plays Sammy had ever made - he could read Jack’s mind like no one else, knew exactly when he was ready and where he was heading.

It didn’t really matter, though. No one was measuring the stats of how many times he got the puck to one specific player, it was statistically useless, so he stayed on the fourth line. 

He doesn’t click with his new partner, either. Not in training camp, at least -  _ it takes longer for most pairs _ , Sammy reminds himself. He knows logically that only a select few get to that high level at all but even though they don’t click right away, they’re playing better than Sammy was with his old partner. 

“You’re doing great,” Jack says anyway as they get back into their apartment after their first real game of the season.

Sammy rolls his eyes and shuts the door behind him. “Better than last year is a low bar, babe.”

Jack turns around and gives him an exaggerated frown as he walks away, towards their bedroom. “Don’t say that about my boyfriend.”

Sammy sighs dramatically and kicks off his shoes, following him through their apartment. “I’m just saying -”

“And  _ I’m _ saying that I don’t wanna hear it,” Jack retorts, stopping them in the hallway to take Sammy’s hands. “Better is better. You  _ were _ doing good last year,  _ and _ you’re doing even better now. I’m proud of you.”

“That’s my line,” Sammy replies, but he can feel a sappy smile on his face that’s matching the one that Jack’s wearing. He pulls Jack in closer so that they’re standing chest to chest and kisses him, letting go of Jack’s hands to hold his face. Jack laughs against his mouth and reaches up, gripping the back of Sammy’s suit jacket and kissing him back hard.

Sammy takes a step forwards, trying to get them the last few feet into the bedroom, but Jack stumbles and they break apart laughing. “We can be proud of each other,” Jack says decisively, face flushed, and it takes Sammy a second to remember what he was talking about.

“Sure,” he agrees. He walks past Jack into their room and shrugs off his suit jacket, turning to throw it in Jack’s direction with a grin. “You coming?”

Jack doesn’t waste any time after that.

Sammy’s on the ice when it happens, which is unusual in itself. Being on the ice at the same time as Jack is always noteworthy even if nothing happens in the few seconds when they overlap - even if they don’t look at each other.

Sammy doesn’t see it right away, just sees Jack midway through a fall, landing hard, and popping back up like nothing happened - later he’ll see the other guy in a video on Twitter, a blatant trip left uncalled. Later he’ll be mad, ready to kill the guy who’s name he can’t even remember. He isn’t even concerned when he sees it because Jack is getting off the ice anyway, it’s the end of his shift, there isn’t time to think - they both take hits constantly, Sammy more than Jack but it still happens, it’s the nature of the game. 

But he doesn’t see it, doesn’t have time to ask Jack, wouldn’t if he did because there’s no reason to be concerned at the time.

And then he doesn’t see Jack again until the end of the game. Sammy only starts to wonder when he realizes Jack isn’t on the bench or the ice anymore - he isn’t anywhere until Sammy sees him already in normal clothes in the locker room.

Jack doesn’t even say anything until they’re out at the car, even though Sammy notices that there’s a tensor bandage around his left wrist while they’re still in the locker room. “It’s all they could do in the doctor’s room,” he muttered, quietly so the cameras in the room didn’t pick it up.

“Dr. Rosenblum wants me to go to the hospital,” Jack says in the car, finally speaking at a normal volume.

“What’s  _ wrong _ ?” Sammy asks, voice coming out more tense and demanding than he means it to. He’s had time to work up nightmare scenarios in his head, eating away at himself for not having realized the moment Jack was hurt. Even though it was normal, it was all  _ normal _ at the time.

“It’s. Very broken, apparently,” Jack replies, holding up his wrist awkwardly, and Sammy realizes that his whole body is tense, realizes that as he goes over the speed bumps Jack is trying to keep his arm as steady as possible.

Sammy curses. “How long’ll you be out?”

Jack shrugs with only his right shoulder, pulling his left wrist back to curl it in against his chest and protecting it as best he can with his right hand.. “Dunno yet. Minimum eight weeks, he said.”

“I can already hear you complaining about being cooped up for that long.” Sammy tries for a light tone, giving Jack a teasing smile, but it falls a little flat with the real worry that creeps in.

Jack rolls his eyes. “I’ll be good, I promise.”

“I think you forget that I’ve met you,” Sammy teases. 

They have to wait for a while before they’re even brought into a room, and Sammy kind of wishes that they’d stopped by the apartment to pick up a book or something. Jack pulls out his phone and offers Sammy an earbud before playing some podcast about cryptids or something, and they sit awkwardly in the corner with their heads together while trying to stay far enough apart that no one notices anything.

Sammy has to restrain a grimace when the doctor unwraps Jack’s bandage - it looks bad, way worse than when he’d hurt his ankle, all motley bruises so soon after. Jack is pressing his lips together in a thin line, and Sammy wants to go over to him, put his hands on Jack’s back and comfort him, but they aren’t alone and the doctors only barely let Sammy in. They’d only allowed it on Jack’s insistence that he wanted Sammy there. 

Jack’s given a cast and a prescription for painkillers and it’s early the next day by the time they’re getting back home. 

Sammy helps Jack get his t-shirt and hoodie off over the cast, and then Jack just sheds his sweatpants and falls back onto this bed in just his boxers with this heavy left wrist flung over his eyes. Sammy feels something heavy in his chest, and he changes quickly into his pyjamas and nudges at Jack’s side. Jack doesn’t scoot over until Sammy is practically laying on top of him, and then he moves over into the middle of the bed so that Sammy can tuck himself in against Jack’s right side, laying his head on Jack’s chest and wrapping his arms around his middle.

“Hey,” Sammy says quietly. 

“Hey,” Jack replies, still not moving his left arm even as the right one snakes its way around Sammy’s shoulders to hold him tight.

“It’ll be over before you know it,” Sammy continues.

Jack lets his arm fall to the side and Sammy finally sees the deep grimace on his face. “I already hate it.”

Sammy hums reassuringly and rubs small circles on the side of Jack’s ribs. “You can catch up on reading.”

“I’m gonna lose my mind, aren’t I?” Jack grumbles.

“Absolutely yes,” Sammy agrees pleasantly. “I’ll buy you one of those adult colouring books. At least you aren’t actually left-handed.”

Jack snorts. “Yeah.”

Sammy presses a kiss to Jack’s collarbone. “You’ll make it through.”

Jack doesn’t get out of bed right away the next day even though Sammy can tell he’s awake, so Sammy goes and makes them coffee, toast, and eggs. Once the coffee has brewed and the smell has filled the apartment, Jack makes his entrance with one of Sammy’s sweaters, unzipped and pushed up over the cast - partially because he probably couldn’t comfortably zip it up, since his shoulders were a bit more broad than Sammy’s. Jack didn’t often wear Sammy’s clothes even though they were close to the same size and it made Sammy feel warm whenever he did.

He takes the mug that Sammy hands him and sits down at the kitchen table. Sammy doesn’t say anything, worried that he might spook Jack and send him running back to their bedroom, so he puts a plate of food in front of him silently and then sits across from him. He eats with one hand and pulls up the video of the previous night on his phone, keeping one eye on Jack who was just picking at the eggs.

Sammy sets his phone down on the table too hard when the video ends. “I’m gonna fucking kill him,” he announces.

Jack snorts, but there’s a half smile on his face even as he keeps from looking at Sammy directly. “Don’t bother. It’s our job, or whatever.”

Sammy sets his jaw. “That was dirty as hell. I can’t believe he didn’t get a penalty after that.”

Jack shrugs his right shoulder. “It’s over. We even won, it’s fine.”

“Whatever,” Sammy says with a sigh, and he scoops more eggs into his mouth. 

They leave on a roadtrip a few days later and Jack stays at home, texting Sammy increasingly tragic emojis that Sammy receives when the plane touches down. 

_ You’ll be fine _ , Sammy replies.  _ I saw you six hours ago _ .

He receives only a string of sad emojis, which make him grin despite himself before quickly hiding his phone and trying to school his face.

None of his teammates really bother him for the whole roadtrip. He gets his room to himself and no one comes to sit next to him on the plane in Jack’s normal seat. He doesn’t eat  _ alone _ at the team breakfasts but the guys around him don’t try to engage him in conversation. It’s fine. When Jack is there, they’ll talk to him, and Jack tries to include Sammy, but he doesn’t really socialize with them on his own.

He doesn’t mention anything to Jack because  _ it’s fine _ , but they talk on the phone every night and Sammy listens to Jack recapping a few episodes of whatever he’d been watching. Then finally, after what feels like forever but is really only a week, they return from the road trip.

Sammy drops his bags in the entryway and Jack is on him before he’s even closed the door, holding him tight and pressing his face against Sammy’s neck.

“I missed you, too,” Sammy says with a teasing laugh, making sure to shut the door and awkwardly fumble for the lock before hugging Jack.

“Shut up,” Jack replies, pinching Sammy’s side enough to make him jump but carefully avoiding the bruise that Sammy had shown him over text the night before. “It’s so boring here all alone. I kept going to the gym just for something to do.”

“How is that different from normal?” Sammy asks. As much as he wanted to keep hold of Jack, he could feel his body starting to get heavy so he lets go, leaving one arm around Jack’s shoulders before walking towards their bedroom. 

Jack rolls his eyes. “If you were here we could have done something, or I would’ve been going to the games at least. It fucking sucks to be stuck here.”

Sammy hummed, tightening his grip on Jack’s shoulder and turning to press a kiss to the side of his head. “You’ll be better soon.”

“Not soon enough,” Jack grumbles. Already in pyjamas, he threw himself into bed while Sammy changed out of his jeans and t-shirt. Jack immediately made himself comfortable against Sammy’s chest once he got in, and Sammy fell asleep more easily than he had all week.

Sammy has half a mind to make Jack stay home when he walks out to join Sammy at the front door.

“You  _ can’t _ ,” Sammy insists, but Jack’s got a shit eating grin on his face and Sammy can already see how this is gonna go.

“If I have to sit in the box with the GM and everyone else and probably get paraded around to meet old homophobes, then I’ll do it wearing my favourite players’ jersey,” Jack replies, and - it’s kind of sweet, but it’s nothing he hasn’t said. 

“Where did you even get that?” Sammy asks instead.

Jack shrugs, making the jersey shift over his shoulders against the smooth fabric of his suit jacket -  _ at least he’s wearing that _ , Sammy thinks. “Bought it.” 

“ _ When _ ?”

“Not important.” Jack walks past Sammy confidently, leaving their apartment door open behind him and leaving Sammy to stare at his own name and number as he follows him down to their car.

“You don’t think anyone will think that’s a bit unusual?” Sammy asks. He tries not to let his apprehension creep into his voice but he knows that he fails from the way Jack tenses for a second.

“I mean, I thought about it,” Jack admits, not looking back at Sammy while they walk down the stairs. “But we have a good enough public bromance that I could probably kiss you on ice after a goal and no one would think twice.”

Sammy felt his jaw clench and his fingers dig into his palm. All at once, he wanted that. It wasn’t something he’d ever thought about but now he  _ wanted _ it, and both the desire for it and the reality made his stomach churn. “Yeah, okay,” he chokes out. He must sound off because Jack looks behind him, meeting Sammy’s eyes softly.

“It’ll be fine,” Jack reassures him, and Sammy tries to smile back.

Carolyn   
@florida--man   
(Eyes )(Two Men Holding Hands ) 7:32 PM - 29 Oct 20xx  14  21 

Allie   
@hockeygay   
@ ppl who hate stevens/think he’s a burden on wright: how can u be SO wrong lol.. Wright would hate u tbqh.  7:40 PM - 29 Oct 20xx  22  25 

Lindsey   
@hockey-and-chill   
best !! friends !!  7:50 PM - 29 Oct 20xx  17  20 

Hockey Night   
@hockeynight   
Inside sources say Devil’s forward Jack Wright is set to return in the next home game following wrist injury.  8:22 AM - 15 Nov 20xx  21  27 

Jack loosens up when he finally gets his cast off in November. They invite Lily over for Thanksgiving because they have a few days off and they manage to pull something edible together just in time. They call Ron on Christmas and he tells them about the outdoor rink he decided to open up on Lake Hatchenaw since he’s stuck there in the Winter for the first time since he was a teen. Sammy focuses on his course work between practices and games, working on planes and busses with the light on while Jack sleeps on his shoulder.

The team is doing really well in the second half of the season, but Jack is doing amazing. His face is bright red when Sammy tells him as much, but that probably had equal to do with where Sammy’s hands were when he said it. 

They make it into the playoffs. The energy in the locker room is exhausted but buzzing as they  _ keep _ going.

Sammy is on the bench. It’s game six but if they win it now then - that’s the thing. He can’t even think it as he and all the other guys are on their feet, training their eyes on the puck. Jack gets shoved out on a last minute line change, takes a pass from the defense and brings it up into the opposing zone. They don’t score another goal, but they keep control of the puck and the clock runs out. 3-4. Sammy stumbles out over the bench along with everyone else, absolute chaos everywhere. He isn’t even sure how he finds Jack, but he does and Jack is laughing and saying something he can’t hear but it doesn’t matter. Jack throws his arms awkwardly around Sammy, stiff in all their padding, and smacks a kiss to his cheek. 

“We did it!” Jack yells in his ear, and Sammy doesn’t even flinch, just grins back at him.

At some point in the confusion, Jack’s parents and Lily find them. There’s no one there specifically for Sammy - officially, Lily had got one of his allotted tickets. She even gives him a hug after Jack, wrinkling her face a little.

“You both smell horrible,” she mutters, and her mother cuts her a sharp look that she pretends not to notice before giving Sammy a quick hug. Mr. Wright shakes his hand and congratulates him. 

Jack doesn’t stop touching him the whole time. 

The cup - the fucking Stanley Cup - makes their way to them at some point and they take a picture with all five of them around it. There’s champagne in the locker room when they finally get there, making it feel useless to take a shower after someone sprays half the room with it. 

They end up at one of the older guy’s houses’, a place so big Sammy feels weird calling it a  _ house _ at all. It’s a little bit outside of town but they’ve all packed into as few cars as possible, most of them abandoning their vehicles at the arena, so the ride is loud and crowded. Sammy is in the centre back seat between Jack and one of the other guys, and all he wants is to reach out and touch Jack even though their sides are pressed tight.

The alcohol is flowing freely inside. They’re each handed beers as soon as they’re through the doors and Sammy can see bottles, full and empty, all over. Jack sticks by his side as they walk through, usually with his arm firmly around Sammy’s shoulders. Someone hands them something stronger before they’re even done the beer. 

Sammy only remembers the rest of the night in flashes. Jack’s arm, heavy and warm against his back. Cold glass or plastic in his hands. Myers saying, “You better give it to your boy good after that fucking play,” and slapping Sammy on the back. Jack’s arm no longer around him. Jack’s hands under his shirt in the bathroom. Jack’s hand on his thigh in the Uber. Jack’s mouth on his, hot and heavy, tasting like sour alcohol, pushing him up against the door. 

“I’m so fucking proud of you,” Jack says.

Sammy grins and kisses him, holding onto his arm so hard he’d worry about leaving bruises if they weren’t both littered with them. “That’s my line.”

New Jersey Devils   
@NJDevils   
Great end to a year… img.83284... 9:06 PM - 15 June 20xx  261  293 

Jack Wright   
@jwright68   
couldn’t be more proud of this year  12:07 PM - 17 June 20xx  73  82 

Jack Wright   
@jwright68   
@jwright68 the cup ofc. dreamed of that since i was a kid but i’ve talked a lot about that the last few days lol. also ron, team & personal development, etc  12:09 PM - 17 June 20xx  12  17 

Jack Wright   
@jwright68   
@jwright68 just! a good fuckin year ok. i’m especially glad/lucky to have my best friend @samstevens67 by my side thru it all  12:11 PM - 17 June 20xx  13  20 

Allie   
@hockeygay   
jack openly supporting ron who was known to have a mentor-ish relationship w him (and sammy).. we stan  12:42 PM - 17 June 20xx  22  26 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I say this every time but I'm so excited for y'all to see the next chapter !!!! But also I hope you liked this one!!


	5. Bye-week

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team slumps and Sammy and Jack go on vacation.

Sammy and Jack spent most of the summer hanging out with Lily, who’d stayed in New York after graduating but had spent the previous summer in California to retrieve old things she’d left at her parents house. She complained about it to their faces, but always had a list of things for them to do when they called her and showed up at their apartment more than once before going back to ignoring them whenever they offered her tickets to a home game.

Which was admittedly fair, since they weren’t doing… the best. 

Jack throws his bag down in their entryway with more force than necessary, reaching up to pull the knot of his tie as he kicks off his dress shoes. Sammy watched with concern, picking up Jack’s bag and moving it to the side, out of the way, and putting his own next to it. He rearranged their shoes back onto the mat so they wouldn’t track dirt onto the carpet before finally following Jack back into their bedroom, finding him fumbling with the buttons on his dress shirt, jacket discarded in a heap on the floor.

Sammy approaches Jack, circling wide and keeping his hands raised as if to show he wasn’t a danger, but Jack doesn’t react as Sammy takes a step closer, and then another, before softly laying his hands over top of Jack’s shaking ones. 

“It’s okay,” Sammy says softly. “Let me.”

Jack takes a deep, unsteady breath before moving his hands off the buttons and onto Sammy’s wrists, letting himself tilt forwards to press his face into the shoulder of Sammy’s jacket. Sammy blindly unbuttons Jack’s shirt, not going much faster than Jack himself was, but neither of them mind.

“I have to undo the cuffs,” Sammy says quietly into Jack’s hair, and Jack sighs but moves his hands so that Sammy can reach them. Instead of pushing Jack’s shirt off when he was done, he wrapped his arms as tightly as he could around Jack, holding him to his chest. Jack clung to him right back, hunching his shoulders to bury his face further into Sammy’s shoulder.

_ At least he isn’t shaking anymore _ , Sammy notes, rubbing a hand idly up and down Jack’s back. 

“Bed?” Sammy asks after a moment.

Jack nods and shrugs out of his shirt, quickly ridding himself of his suit pants, and then turning to crawl into bed in just boxers and socks. Sammy shakes his head at him fondly before following his lead, immediately going back to holding Jack as tightly as Jack lets him. 

“Slumps just happen sometimes,” Sammy says, and Jack sighs, a hot breath on Sammy’s collarbone. “Especially after a cup win.”

“It’s not just the team slumping,” Jack points out. “I haven’t gotten many goals, my plus-minus is shit - I don’t even know what’s wrong with me.”

“There’s nothing wrong with you,” Sammy assures him, running a hand through Jack’s hair. “You’re psyching yourself out, you just have to refocus.”

Jack lets out a breath and pushes himself further against Sammy. “You’re doing  _ so _ well this season, Sammy -”

“I’m proud of you,” Sammy says quickly, before Jack has the chance, because Jack is always telling him and this time he’s the one who needs it. “It doesn’t matter if this season is worse or if it was your best ever - I’ll be proud of you no matter what. You know that, right?”

Jack stills, shoulders tensing slightly, before all the fight in him goes out and he lets himself relax. He doesn’t say anything right away, just breaths against Sammy’s skin. “I know,” he says finally.

Sammy kisses the top of his head, and lets himself fall asleep.

The team doesn’t get better but they don’t get worse, either. Treading water just well enough to not have everyone feeling desperate - not at the bottom but not at the top, either. 

Jack’s getting worse, though. Not his play - that’s the same, always the same. Sammy keeps a close eye on bookmarked stats websites, a handful of reporters, and covertly blocks things on Jack’s twitter so he doesn’t have to see them. It’s maybe not the best idea, Sammy admits that, but he can’t think of anything else to get Jack out of his cycle of checking analysts. 

Neither of them were super social, but Jack refuses to go out after wins and goes straight to their room when they’re home. During road trips it’s worse, the social expectation much higher regardless of how the game goes, but luckily they room together and it’s never been too weird to have both of them disappear early on.

“We should go away,” Sammy says. It’s mid-afternoon but he’s brought his laptop into the bedroom in an attempt to get Jack to engage with something. The lights are off and an episode of X-Files is playing quietly even though Sammy isn’t sure that Jack is paying attention. Jack looks up at Sammy from where his head is resting on his shoulder but he doesn’t say anything. “Bye-week’s coming up. Let’s just go somewhere warm. I’m tired of the slush.”

Jack makes a non-committal but interested noise.

“What about somewhere in the Caribbean?” Sammy pauses the episode and pulls up Google. 

It takes coaxing but Jack helps. They decide on a resort in the Bahamas, and Sammy books everything quickly to keep momentum for Jack to hook onto.

Sammy has to do the packing but he doesn’t mind - there shouldn’t be too much need for anything outside of bathing suits anyway. He doesn’t have to worry about their passports, kept in a secure but easy to access place given the frequency of their international travel for games, but he makes himself a list for everything else.

And then it’s finally time and Sammy’s hauling a half-asleep Jack to the airport. They make it before lunchtime but Jack drags Sammy into one of the rooms to take a mid-morning nap. They’d opted for a suite but they both knew that half of it wasn’t going to be used. Sammy made a mental note to mess up the sheets in the other room, anyway.

Jack moves and pushes Sammy towards the bed unexpectedly, quickly moving to straddle his waist before he can stand up.

“I thought you wanted to nap?” Sammy asks, already feeling a smile on his face.

Jack smiles back at him and it’s the best thing Sammy’s seen in months. “There’s always later,” he answers, before leaning down to kiss him hard, locking his fingers in Sammy’s hair.

They don’t end up getting lunch for a few more hours.

Sammy’s making them a beach bag on the second day when he realizes it. “Babe, we might have a problem,” he says, drawing Jack’s attention from the main room.

Jack pokes his head into the bedroom, and he already looks more awake and  _ alive _ than he has all season. It makes Sammy’s heart hurt. “What’s up?”

“I might’ve forgotten sunscreen,” he admits sheepishly. 

Jack blinks at him for a second, expressionless, before he’s doubled over laughing. “Of course. You know what, it’s fine - I’m from California, I’m used to it.”

“Not all of us have a natural inclination to the sun,” Sammy mutters goodnaturedly. 

“Your good midwestern sensibilities will just have to deal, I guess!” Jack says gleefully. “Now, c’mon, I want to find a good reading spot before everyone else goes out.”

Once they’re set up, they go in the water for only a short while before heading back to their little spot - just long enough for the families with kids to show up, and then retreat. They stay close, but not quite touching. Plausible deniability, but it’s just a bit too hot for comfort, anyway. They go back up to the hotel for lunch and then come back to keep lazing about. Jack promptly falls asleep and Sammy just rolls his eyes, putting the bookmark in his book and tossing it back in their bag.

Jack only starts to look uncomfortable when he has to put a shirt on for dinner.

“Are you okay?” Sammy asks.

Jack nods and shifts his shoulders again, wincing at the motion. “I’m fine.”

Sammy raises an eyebrow. “Do you want me to try and find aloe?”

“I’m  _ fine _ ,” Jack repeats with a grimace.

Sammy lets Jack go back to their room alone after dinner, and heads to ask the staff where he can buy sunscreen and after-sun products. Jack is already laying face down on the bed with his shirt off when Sammy gets back. “Where is it the worst?” Sammy asks quietly and Jack makes a pathetic noise that sounds like he might be trying to repeat how ‘fine’ he is. Sammy ignores that and uncaps the after-sun. “Tell me or I’ll just go with ‘everywhere’.”

“Pretty much that,” Jack admits, turning his head to the side to give Sammy a rueful look. “Just… yeah. Feels bad all over.”

“Just your back, though?” Sammy asks, turning his tone soft because Jack just looks too pitiful to make fun of.

Jack nods and Sammy sets to work.

Carolyn   
@florida--man   
(Eyes )(Two Men Holding Hands )(Sun With Face ) im JUST SAYING  10:29 AM - 20 Jan 20xx  12  18 

Allie   
@hockeygay   
i think my gf and i were at that resort last month????? wild. our room Was Not that big tho.  10:43 AM - 20 Jan 20xx  3  10 

Allie   
@hockeygay   
ALSO can we not w the shipping of real people.. i know it’s useless w Most of u but still  10:55 AM - 20 Jan 20xx  18  24 

Jack Wright   
@jwright68   
i’m gonna miss this  9:56 AM - 20 Jan 20xx  57  63 

They pick up after bye-week but there isn’t enough time left in the season to make it to playoffs. Sammy keeps doing well, better in a single season than he’s done before, and Jack - Jack’s playing the same, the hoped reset of vacation not having lasted long enough for him to take it to the ice.

“Maybe I should’ve been the one to sign up for classes,” Jack says teasingly one evening when Sammy’s working on a project.

Sammy rolls his eyes. “You’re still doing better than I am, overall. It’s fine.”

Sammy finishes his semester a bit after they’re officially knocked out, and Ron sends him an e-mail inviting them to visit him for a weekend.  _ There’s only one guest room _ , he says, and Sammy tells him that that’s fine. He knows, and Sammy knows that he knows, but he’s suddenly hyper-aware that they’ve never officially told him even in the two years since Ron’s been out. Ron knows but he isn’t going to force Sammy and Jack into an uncomfortable situation where it’s obvious. Well, more obvious than they already are around him. 

So they end up at the Bait and Tackle in King Falls, Colorado. Ron offers to take them fishing when they first arrive and laughs when they both balk, taking them into town instead to show them the sights. There isn’t that much to see once they get past the main street, but Ron promises to show Jack a local dog breeder’s place the next day. Kingsie is overjoyed to see Jack even though she isn’t wholly interested in leaving her nap spot, so Jack goes to join her on the porch.

“My godson just got drafted,” Ron tells Sammy when they go to the kitchen to get the spread that Ron had prepared for them.

“Oh?” Sammy replies politely. “I forgot he played hockey. What team?”

“Devil’s, but he’ll be in the minors at first he thinks. He’s selling himself short, in my opinion, but I don’t know who else’ll be at dev camp,” Ron continues, pride evident in his voice.

“Does he still live in town?” Sammy asks. “You talked about him and his mom, in your article, right?”

Ron nods. “Yeah, but no. He took his mom to Mexico for vacation this week with his signing bonus, to treat her. Otherwise I’d introduce the lot of you.”

“We’ll look for him if he comes up,” Sammy promises. “You can give him my number or something, just in case.”

Ron claps his shoulder. “Thanks. Appreciate it.”

They had decided that they’d tell Ron that night, officially, no matter how weird it is. They’re flying back to Newark after lunch, so they decide that’s best. Jack ends up being the one to blurt it out after a beat of silence in the conversation.

“We’re dating,” he says, gesturing at Sammy, and immediately his face goes a little bit red. “I mean, you know, but -”

“It’s still a brave thing to say it,” Ron assures him. “Thank you.”

The summer is… normal. They have a rhythm now, a pattern. Training in New York, meeting up with Lily, holding hands in central park for thirty seconds, a minute, two minutes, until they see someone. Jack’s parents come up and stay in a hotel so they don’t end up seeing the unfinished guest room that’s become half an office for Sammy and half equipment storage room. 

They start strong in exhibition, when it doesn’t matter but raises team morale. 

Jack gets the call early in the morning, waking them up before a late afternoon practice. His face goes blank after a few seconds and Sammy watches him with concern.

“Oh,” Jack says, voice hollow. “And there’s nothing?” A beat. “Okay. God. Alright. What - can you - just. E-mail me what I have to do right now. Thanks.” He hangs up without saying goodbye and looks at his hands, avoiding Sammy.

“What was that?” Sammy asks, shifting to try and get into Jack’s line of sight but Jack just closes his eyes.

“I’m being traded,” he says, and the bottom goes out of Sammy’s stomach.

San Jose Sharks   
@SanJoseSharks   
We’re excited to welcome @jwright68 to our family!  11:52 AM - 3 Oct 20xx  70  78 

Kayly   
@devilsg1rl   
maybe he’ll be better there lol  12:05 PM - 3 Oct 20xx  12  15 

Allie   
@hockeygay   
@devilsg1rl i refuse to hear any hate on my son u don’t know what could be going on!  12:17 PM - 3 Oct 20xx  15  17 

Lindsey   
@hockey-and-chill   
@devilsg1rl @hockeygay isn’t he from there originally?? maybe he’ll be .. happier? idk he looked kinda sad in interviews last season  12:24 AM - 3 Oct 20xx  10  12 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope everyone's enjoying this, lmk what you thought of this update! As always comments are super appreciated!!


	6. And They Were Roommates

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> (omg they were roommates)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So what I'm doing with this fic is writing and then posting the previous chapter (so I just finished chapter 7 and you're finally getting chapter 6) and literally until today I had 0 words written of chapter 7. I've been either depressed or sick since I posted the last update, but I forced myself to write a little short fic which I posted yesterday and it helped me work this out! So I hope you guys enjoy this, and I hope you enjoy the new characters that appear this chapter....

There isn’t time.

There just isn’t enough time to do anything.

Jack’s put on a flight out to San Jose - all the way across the fucking country - that evening, and Sammy miraculously gets permission to leave practice early to drive him to the airport. He goes and pays for parking even though he won’t be there long - doesn’t have the _time_ to be there for the hour he paid for, because Jack’s flight leaves in two - and they sit in the car quietly for a moment before Jack is unbuckling his seat belt and leaning over to kiss Sammy desperately. Sammy reaches back with the same urgency, hands pulling at each other just trying to get closer, and Sammy curses the steering wheel for being in the way. He fumbles for his buckle, just trying to lean in. Jack isn’t crying when they break apart but it looks like a close thing, and Sammy knows he isn’t holding himself together much better.

“We always knew this would probably happen,” Sammy offers, but it isn’t convincing and Jack just drops his head forwards onto Sammy’s shoulder.

“I’ll call you so much you’ll get sick of me,” Jack says. “Promise.”

Sammy rubs his back. “Okay, c’mon. I don’t want to but we have to get out.”

Jack groans but pulls away and they both get out of the car. He didn’t have much packed because in what little time they did have, they’d determined that he’d be coming back to Newark in the summer. They walk closely, shoulders brushing, over to the terminal. Jack drops his bag on the sidewalk and turns to hug Sammy tightly one more time.

“I love you,” he says quietly, voice muffled by Sammy’s shoulder.

Sammy presses his lips together tightly, holding him back just as tightly. “I love you, too.

Sammy returns to an empty apartment and waits for Jack’s call. He knows it’ll be late but he doesn’t care, deciding to redirect the nervous energy to try and finish a paper - Sammy might as well get his school work done on time if he’s going to be awake, but he finds himself jumping at every noise from his phone, rushing to it just to check even though he _knows_ that Jack is in the air.

Half of it is teammates texting to just express some kind of condolence because everyone knows he and Jack are close, even though they have no idea _how_ close, and the other half is people tweeting at him - and he really wishes he knew how to turn that off, he hasn’t even opened the app in months. And then finally, _finally_ Jack’s name is the one popping up on screen. They stay on the phone for hours, Sammy turning it to speaker and finally finishing his paper while Jack is on the other end of the line also not speaking.

Jack only stays at the hotel for two nights before the Sharks are going on a road trip.

“I haven’t even really unpacked,” Jack comments to some of the other guys, young guys - not rookies, but around his own age - who’ve warmed up to him a bit already. “I really need to get on apartment hunting.” It’s the thing to say, and it’s true because he doesn’t want to be living out of a hotel until June and next year and for who knows how long after that. But the idea of doing it without Sammy makes it less appealing.

“Well, you can come stay with me while you’re waiting,” one of the guys offers. “I have a guest room, and my girlfriend’s a great cook.”

“I wouldn’t want to -”

“C’mon, Jack,” the guy continues with a grin, “you knew Ron, right? I grew up in the same town, he talked about you and your buddy, Sammy, a lot this summer when you visited. I’d love to give a helping hand to one of his friends.” He reaches a hand over to Jack. “I’m Troy, by the way.”

Jack pauses and then smiles back, shaking Troy’s hand. “I guess I can’t say no, then.”

It’s only about a month and a half before their teams are playing each other. They can’t see each other beforehand but Sammy manages to sneak Jack back up to his hotel room since they never bothered to get him a new roommate.

“I don’t know what to do with myself half the time,” Sammy admits, relishing in the feeling of just being able to hold Jack, see him in person. They’d have another three and a half months before they could see each other again but he wasn’t thinking about that yet, couldn’t even conceptualize it.

“Troy has kinda sensed that I’m a bit… down,” Jack says. “So he and Loretta are all about showing me the sights right now, trying to keep me occupied.”

Sammy hums. “That’s nice of them.”

“Yeah, Troy’s a nice guy,” Jack continues. “I asked Ron about him, apparently he was in high school around the same time as his godson, and they were friends, so.”

“Small world,” Sammy says distractedly. He turns his head and kisses Jack because he can, because he’s wanted to and hasn’t been able to.

Jack melts into it but pulls away too quickly. “I need to be getting out of here. Troy will know I’m with you so I can’t really say the night. We can get away with a lot under ‘bromance’ but not sleepovers.”

Sammy groans and reluctantly releases his hold on Jack. “I guess you’re right.”

Sammy goes back to the empty apartment. Jack’s DVD’s are still on the stand with his, his books on the shelf, things he didn’t have space to pack or didn’t want to bring because then that _means something_. Something neither of them are ready to admit yet.

And then Sammy’s partner goes down. It’s ugly and Sammy can tell it’s gonna be bad before he’s even hit the ground, the resulting _snap_ freezing everyone on the ice. Game play comes to a halt and Sammy gets pulled off the ice, too, another pair sent on in their place.

The team doctor tells Sammy that it was his ACL, and his partner won’t be coming back this season.

It’s afternoon and Sammy hasn’t gotten out of bed yet when Ron calls. They have the day off and he was planning on making the most of it with a Skype call to Jack after his practice, otherwise allowing himself the day to wallow.

“Hey,” Sammy says quietly, voice muffled by the pillow.

“Hey, Sammy,” Ron replies, voice rough but tone soft - like he knows Sammy’s laying face down with the lights off and wants to meet that mood. Sammy appreciates it. “Heard about Jack.”

“Yeah,” Sammy says. They’d talked since the trade, but it was clearly what Ron thought needed saying.

“I also heard something else,” Ron continues. “My godson just called me and let me knows the Devils decided to move him up to be your partner. I told you about him, right?”

It’s the first he’s heard about it. Management had said they’re looking for a new partner, rearranging the lines, but he hadn’t heard anything back and he’d been starting to fear the worst. Sammy pushes himself up and is hit with a painful wave of vertigo. He squeezes his eyes tight and forces himself all the way up. “Yeah. Ben, right?”

“Yeah. He doesn’t have a place to stay yet, and I thought - you have an extra room, and it could do you some good to bond,” Ron explains. “The kid will kill me for saying this but he doesn’t really do well alone. And I don’t think you do either.”

Sammy holds in a sigh. It’s not so much at the idea of a roommate as the called shot from Ron. “Sure, he can stay here. Does he know-”

“No,” Ron interrupts. “That’s your business. I didn’t tell him anything about you and Jack.”

“Thanks, Ron,” Sammy says softly. “When can I expect him?”

They finalize the details and by the end of it Sammy is out in the living room, lights on, browsing the IKEA website to finally furnish that spare room.

Lindsey   
@hockey-and-chill   
tbh the new player is soooo cute (Eyes ) anyone found his @ yet?? (Smiling Face With Heart-Shaped Eyes ) 11:32 AM - 7 Nov 20xx  22  29 

Allie   
@hockeygay   
has anyone else noticed jack looking sad in interviews/etc lately?? his ig is making me depressed  10:56 PM - 8 Nov 20xx  28  32 

Kayly   
@devilsg1rl   
@hockeygay but he’s been playing better lol so… always knew stevie was holding him back!  11:03 PM - 8 Nov 20xx  7  10 

Allie   
@hockeygay   
@devilsg1rl i care more abt a person’s happiness but go off i guess  9:26 AM - 9 Nov 20xx  33  45 

Sammy goes to pick Ben up from the airport to save him the hassle of an Uber or taxi. Ron had e-mailed him a photo that showed him and Ben side by side in the snow, grinning at the camera.

Ben, when he walks into the arrivals area, is shorter than Sammy expects. About average compared to the other people around but a good three inches shorter than Sammy - _almost half a foot shorter than Jack_ , he thinks and immediately dismisses. He’s built like a forward, and Sammy has to wonder how this kid ended up on defence.

“Hey!” Ben says happily. “You must be Sammy, I’m so excited to meet you! Ron talks about you all the time.”

Sammy tries to smile back at him. “Yeah, you too.”

Ben doesn’t remark on the new-IKEA-smell of the furniture, or how sparsely it’s furnished. Sammy hopes that he figures Jack took all his things. They don’t have much time to hang out or get settled before practice, so Ben just drops his suitcase in his room and they leave.

It’s immediately clear that they click, from the second they step on the ice and start a drill together. Something in Sammy just _knows_ where Ben is, and it seems to go both ways.

“That was awesome!” Ben exclaims in the locker room, ducking in to give Sammy a quick hug.

Sammy can’t help but smile back at that, because - Ben’s right, it _was_ pretty awesome.

“Already getting over your _boy_ friend, Stevie?” Myers says from across the room, not quite sneering but there’s an edge to his voice.

Ben turns to glare at him. “Hey, Pete, shut the fuck up,” he bites, and the anger is unexpected but Sammy realizes it shouldn’t be. He grew up with Ron after all - it’s probably a sore point, maybe not as much as it is for Sammy but still. He finds that he appreciates when one of them can speak up.

Sammy and Ben play _really_ well together. The coach moves them up to second line, which is the best place Sammy’s been in in his entire NHL career. Ben’s a really good roommate too, and it seems like they’ve clicked in that aspect as well. There’s still bumps - Sammy isn’t really used to having a proper roommate, having lived with Jack so long that he knew all of Jack’s quirks and could work around them so easily they weren’t worth noting. He isn’t as sure how to handle it when Ben left his dirty laundry or books in the living room. Or when Ben starts rifling through Jack’s bookshelf.

“Are you into cryptids and stuff?” Ben asks, and there’s a light in his eyes that’s all too familiar to Sammy.

Sammy sighs, biting back a groan. “No, those are all Jack’s. He loves that stuff.”

Ben gives him a look that isn’t exactly _confused_ , but he’s clearly trying to puzzle through something. “Why didn’t he take them with him?”

“Not enough space,” Sammy mutters. “He’s basically got a whole library, and they’re all on his kindle anyway. Dunno why he always insists on buying the hard copies.”

Ben nods. “Maybe I’ll pick his brain about mothman one day.”

Sammy can’t hold back the groan this time. “Don’t even get him started, please. I got him this whole mini-series a few years ago and he never shut up about it.”

“Then I _definitely_ have to ask,” Ben says decisively, a scheming glimmer to his eyes that scares Sammy just as much as it did when Jack got that same look.

Sammy is suddenly very sure that he’s made a horrible mistake in agreeing to let Ben live with him, but he already knows he wouldn’t change his mind.

“You’re playing _so_ well, babe,” Jack says on their Skype call one evening, a couple weeks after Ben moved in.

Sammy ducks his head. “Yeah,” he agrees. “It’s been pretty great. How are things with Troy and Loretta?”

Jack shrugs and the laptop gets jostled as he settles further back into bed. “Fine. I haven’t really started looking for an apartment yet so I’m worried I’m being annoying but…”

“I’m sure he’d tell you if you were,” Sammy says, even though he knows that isn’t wholly reassuring. “Do you want me to look up apartments for you?”

Jack shakes his head. “It’s fine, I’ll get to -”

Ben knocks on Sammy’s door. “Do you need any groceries?” he asks through the door.

“No, thanks,” Sammy replies.

“Is that Ben?” Jack asks. “Can I say hi?”

“Are you talking to Jack? Can I come in?” Ben also asks at the same time.

Sammy can’t help but laugh at them. “Sure, come in,” he calls, and Ben bounces in and comes to crouch by Sammy’s side of the bed to get into frame.

“Hi!” Ben says with an enthusiastic wave. “Nice to - meet you, sort of.”

“Nice to meet you, too,” Jack says lightly. “Sammy’s told me a lot about you, and I was just telling him how good you two are playing this season.”

Ben visibly lights up. “Thanks! You, too.” Then he looks over at Sammy with a glimmer in his eye that Sammy really wishes he wasn’t becoming familiar with. “So about mothman -” he starts, and Sammy immediately shoves his shoulder, causing him to go from crouching to sitting.

“I told you not to start,” he says warningly. “Didn’t you have to get groceries or something?”

“Sammy, don’t make him leave if _someone_ in that apartment will finally talk to me about mothman,” Jack replies with a laugh.

Yeah, Sammy regretted it. But he still felt something warm filling his chest as he watched the two of them talk animatedly about something - he’d already stopped listening, but that didn’t matter.

There isn’t enough time, but Sammy books a flight to San Jose anyway. It doesn’t matter that it’s only a few days or that the jetlag of going across the country and back in barely a weekend will make him feel like shit - the prospect of spending Christmas without Jack is just too much.

“I wish I had a best friend like that,” Ben says wistfully when Sammy tells him that he’ll be gone over Christmas. He didn’t feel too bad at leaving Ben alone in the apartment because Ben’s holiday celebrations had consisted of Facetiming his mom while she lit the menorah back at their house earlier in the month.

Sammy doesn’t try to correct the use of _best friend_ even though the words feel different coming from Ben than the other guys. When the other guys say it, it’s a relief from the teasing _boyfriend_ comments, but when Ben does Sammy just wishes that Ben _did_ know. “Yeah,” he says finally. “Anyway, you’re sure you’ll be fine? It’ll just be a few days.”

“Yeah, it’s fine. I won’t throw any ragers in your bedroom, don’t worry,” Ben says with an eye roll.

“Please don’t throw any ragers at all,” Sammy begs. “We lost the security deposit a long time ago but I’d rather not get kicked out.”

“It’s _fine_ \- are you sure _you’re_ gonna be okay?” Ben asks skeptically.

Sammy nods. “I’m a bit worried we’re imposing on Troy, that’s all.” It’s not entirely true but it is something he’s at least a bit concerned about.

Ben rolls his eyes again and Sammy wonders briefly how many times a day his mother told him not to do that when he was in high school. “Troy texted me about how excited he is to have guests, so I’d say you can just forget that.”

When Sammy arrives in San Jose, Troy and Jack are both there to pick him up because Jack has been unable to rent a car or buy a new one, so Sammy and Jack can only have a quick hug before heading back to Troy and Loretta’s apartment. Sammy goes to drop his bag in Jack’s room and notices an air mattress set up on the floor. Jack shrugs.

“What was I supposed to say?” he asks, which is fair.

Troy apologizes profusely when he and Loretta have to leave for Christmas Eve Dinner at Loretta’s parents house and then finally - _finally_ Sammy and Jack were alone.

“So,” Jack says when the door shuts. “How’s Ben doing?”

Sammy laughs. “He’s fine. We can skip the small talk, though,” he replies, going over to the couch and sitting in his lap.

“Oh, well that’s good then,” Jack says a little breathlessly. He reaches up to put his hand on the back of Sammy’s neck and pulls him into a kiss. “Wouldn’t wanna waste time.”

Allie   
@hockeygay   
sammy’s really coming into his own huh!!  10:33 AM - 2 Jan 20xx  34  36 

Allie   
@hockeygay   
@hockeygay also did u SEE jack’s christmas pics on ig?! they’re so sweet  10:35 AM - 2 Jan 20xx  23  25 

Lindsey   
@hockey-and-chill   
lefty’s playing a bit better but i can’t really tell :/ he doesn’t seem very happy that’s for sure.  3:09 PM - 3 Jan 20xx  12  13 


	7. And They Were Roommates (Part 2)

The Devil’s hire a new PR person in the new year. Sammy’s pretty sure he’d never personally met whoever had been in charge before, but with the new hire management had scheduled a Social Media 101 talk with her. 

“Hello!” she says cheerfully when the last of the guys arrived at the crowded meeting room. “My name’s Emily Potter and I’m in charge of public relations - which means it’s my job to decide what goes up on the team’s social media, and also my job to cover your asses if you do anything. Just because it’s technically my job to clean up your mess doesn’t mean I won’t be mad at you for it, and you don’t want to know what I’ll do to you if that happens.”

Sammy can’t help but smile as half the guys in the room tense at Emily’s threat. She’s a tall woman, but not particularly intimidating in stature, especially when compared to the professional athletes surrounding her. Despite this, she gave off a no-nonsense aura that left Sammy with no doubt that she could follow through on her promise. 

Off to his side, he notices Ben looking soft-eyed as Emily’s talk progressed. She seems to be desperately trying to teach them empathy, or at least the ability to have critical thought before tweeting or posting something bad. Sammy had mostly tuned it out, trying to look just as interested as necessary, because he never posted on his Twitter anyway. Ben, however, looks hooked on her every word.

Sammy nudges his shoulder and Ben snaps out of it, giving Sammy a quick questioning look. Sammy just smiles and shakes his head.

“She seems nice!” Ben says excitedly as they walk out of the meeting.

Sammy laughs. “Sure, bud. Did you wanna go back and talk to her? I can wait…”

Ben blushed furiously, ducking his head slightly. “No it’s fine I’ll just -”

Sammy grabs his shoulder and gently pushes him back towards the room. “Just ask her something about Twitter. You know you want to.”

Ben gives Sammy a guilty look and nods. Sammy watches as he pulls out his phone and taps on some stuff before going up to Emily and talking to her. He smiles to himself before turning away and heading towards the car. 

Ben catches up to him before he’s even closed the trunk. “I thought maybe you left without me,” Ben admits.

Sammy rolls his eyes. “I told you to talk to her and I’m your ride - I was gonna wait.”

Ben shrugs and doesn’t quite meet Sammy’s eyes as he speaks, throwing his stuff in the trunk with Sammy’s. “Yeah, but like - guys promise that all the time and I still end up ordering an Uber, y’know? That’s never happened to you?”

Sammy is suddenly struck with the intense desire to protect this boy. He unstands all at once the way that Ron had talked about him. “I’ve only carpooled with Jack,” Sammy admits, “and we were roommates so it wasn’t exactly hard to remember. Even when we were in juniors we only got rides with one of our billet parents.”

“I didn’t know you guys were in juniors together,” Ben says idly, going around to get into the passenger side of the car which Sammy unlocks for him dutifully before going to the drivers side. 

Sammy nods, busying himself with adjusting the seat even though he was the only one who’d driven the car in months. “Yup. We were lucky to be drafted together.” It’s the truth - even with everything that’s happened in the last year, that stroke of luck was unbelievable. The fact that they had those few years together was something that Sammy almost felt was a fever dream now that all he had of Jack was Skype calls between their sporadic visits. 

“You guys must be really close, then,” Ben muses, but there’s no edge to it - either he doesn’t suspect anything, Sammy reasons, or he suspects and doesn’t care. Sammy isn’t necessarily worried that Ben would - react poorly. He’d been raised at least partially with Ron’s help and clearly had a good relationship with him, and with how he’d told off Pete before he clearly had no tolerance for homophobia. But the words still stuck in Sammy’s throat. “I wish I had a best friend like that.”

“We’ve known each other for a long time,” Sammy answers diplomatically, a non-answer really, just re-stating what was already obvious. “You get to know someone really well after that long. You never know who it’ll be.” He doesn’t say anything about he and Jack had gravitated towards each other immediately, despite their different positions and seemingly very different demeanors. By all accounts Jack should have been one of the popular kids who paid Sammy no attention, but looking back it was like somehow they’d both known  _ something _ . 

“So,” Jack says a bit awkwardly, leaning down to unlace his skates slowly, “what’s your apartment’s policy on pets?”

Troy lets out a startled laugh. “I think it’s fine - one of our neighbours has a little dog, I think? There’s a few cats.”

Jack nods and puts his skate into his bag before moving to the other one. “What are your and Loretta’s thoughts on pets?”

Troy raises an eyebrow at him. “Just ask, Jack.”

Jack sighs and finishes his second skate quickly. “Can I get a dog? My old roommate - Sammy, you met him, I don’t know - anyway. He didn’t let me.”

“As long as you can take the dog with you, and it’s your responsibility and all of that,” Troy says. “Obviously, I have to ask Loretta as well but she’s got a soft spot for puppies.”

Sammy accepts the call from Jack just after ten in the evening. He’d been settled down in bed for a bit already because he had to be up for morning practice, but he wasn’t planning on reminding Jack of their time difference if Jack wanted to talk longer. It had been a rough few days, Sammy keenly aware of Jack’s absence when Ben noticed the X Files box-set on the shelf and asked about it. 

“Hey,” Sammy says softly, settling back into the pillows and balancing his laptop on his knees.

Jack grins as soon as he sees Sammy’s face. “I’m in love,” he says immediately.

Sammy chuckles. “Well, thanks -”

Jack tilts the camera down so that Sammy can see a small brown and white dog curled up with its head on his lap.

“You didn’t,” Sammy says warningly.

“Her name’s Abby and I’d die for her,” Jack says seriously, moving the camera back to his face. “I got her today. They told me she didn’t really like men but she follows me all around the apartment. I’m gonna take her on a run tomorrow, I bought a special leash and everything.”

Sammy groans and drops his head back so it hits the headboard with a muffled  _ thunk _ . “I knew this would happen. I always knew you’d leave me to become a dog dad. We had a good run, though, right?”

Jack rolls his eyes. “Stop being dramatic, you’ll love her too, I promise.”

“Of course I will,” Sammy says a little bit dismissively. “If you love her, I don’t have a choice.”

Jack grins. “I knew you’d see the light. Also - hi. I love you. I missed you so much I bought a dog.”

Sammy laughs. “Better to ask forgiveness, I guess. I love you, too, even though you got us a pet without asking.”

Jack moves the camera until it’s staring down the dogs snout, close enough that Sammy can barely see anything. “How can you say no to this face,” he says, not quite in baby-talk but it’s close.

“Now you can’t get mad if I get a cat,” Sammy points out. “Ben seems to be in favour…”

Jack sighs, moving the camera back to his face. “I guess. We might need to get a bigger place if we keep adopting things whenever we miss each other, huh? Abby, a hypothetical cat, Ben - that’s already a full apartment.”

“We haven’t adopted Ben,” Sammy points out. “He’s an adult.”

Jack raises an eyebrow. “You were just telling me last night about how he was getting along with Emily and you were worried he was gonna get hurt. Please tell me again that you haven’t adopted him.”

Sammy shrugged. “It’s more like… a younger brother than a  _ child _ .”

“That’s fair,” Jack agrees. “How is he, by the way? Will I get to meet him when we come around next month?”

The conversation shifts, even though Jack keeps periodically moving the camera to Abby’s face whenever she makes snuffling noises, and by the end of it Sammy is thoroughly won over by her sleepy charm. 

Jack grabs Sammy around the waist as they waited on the sidelines of the fight. “Come here often?” Jack says as quietly as he can manage in the noise of the arena. “Wouldn’t want you jumping into that.”

Sammy laughs and shakes his head. “Course not. You’re only here for the good of the team, I can tell.”

“It’s offensive that you could even imply otherwise,” Jack jokes as they watch the refs start to pull the two players away from each other. They reluctantly let each other go with the excuse now gone. “See ya later,” Jack says, adding a pat to Sammy’s butt as he skates away.

“What were you and Jack talking about?” Ben asks idly when they end up on the bench after the shift change.

Sammy shrugs. “He might stay the night at our apartment,” he says. They hadn’t talked about it just now, but it had been floated as an idea earlier if they could get away with it. “He’s supposed to have an exception to curfew for staying here.”

“You guys are such good friends,” Ben says wistfully, and Sammy can barely keep himself from rolling his eyes.

“Would that be okay with you?” he asks instead, and Ben nods enthusiastically.

“I kinda wanna pick his brain about cryptids and stuff, since you shut that down all the time,” Ben admits.

Sammy sighs. “Deal,” he agrees, wondering what exactly he just signed himself up for.

Jack and Ben get along instantly, because of course they do. Sammy can’t catch a break and they end up watching a few episodes of the X Files all piled onto the couch. Sammy and Jack had only been thinking about the two of them when they’d bought it, so while it  _ was _ a pretty long three-seater (long enough to stretch out and cuddle, Sammy decidedly  _ did not  _ think), with three grown hockey players it was still a tight fit. But Ben was a tactile guy, and he had no reservations about leaning into Sammy’s side to get comfortable. Following his lead of ‘acceptable contact’, Sammy let himself settle an arm on the back of the sofa behind Jack, and Jack leaned against Sammy in return. It was all plausibly deniable, but Sammy ached at the chance to touch Jack again.

“I can stay on the couch if you want your old room!” Ben offers cheerfully as it starts to get late.

Jack chuckles. “No, that’s fine - there’s an air mattress, and I’m just travelling tomorrow so it isn’t a big deal.”

Ben looks a little concerned. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah, of course,” Jack assures him. “You have a game tomorrow, not me. You need the rest.”

Ben shrugs but accepts the excuse, wishing them both a good night before heading into his room.

“We don’t own an air mattress,” Sammy points out quietly. “Do you think he’ll notice?”

Jack raises an eyebrow. “He’s straight, he wouldn’t think twice if I’d just said we were gonna cuddle.”

Sammy has to give him that.

New Jersey Devils   
@NJDevils   
So excited to be joining the family! Everyone has been making me feel so welcome already :)  9:09 AM - 15 Jan 20xx  12  14 

jwright68 **137** likes  
**jwright68** meet abby!!! the sweetest pup  View all 31 comments Jan 21, 20xx

Allie   
@hockeygay   
my favourite thing on earth is when hockey players do that hug to keep the other from joining the fight, it’s Especially good when i like both the players  8:24 PM - 3 Feb 20xx  18  21 

The Sharks get kicked out in the second round of playoffs and Jack immediately flies to Newark - with Abby in tow, obviously, not wanting to leave his dog for the summer even though Troy had offered to keep her. She goes wild in the new apartment, going in and out of all the rooms before circling back to the people and greeting both Sammy and Ben enthusiastically. 

Sammy actually bought an air mattress which they manage to fit into the bedroom along with the surprisingly big dog bed for such a small puppy. 

“She kept tearing them up,” Jack admits. “I thought she wanted something smaller because she always curls up as tight as possible but she loves the space.”

The Devil’s are kicked out in the next round and Ben packs up some of his stuff and heads back to Colorado for the summer. “Ron would love to have you guys over,” he says easily. “He told me about your visit last year. And I’ll be in town this time, I can show you the real cool stuff! Especially stuff you’d be into, Jack - the library’s super haunted, you know.”

“We’ll definitely come down,” Sammy promises.

They deflate the air mattress and shut up the extra room and it’s like it always has been. They go to train in the city and Lily actually pays attention to them - less than the previous few years, since things seem to be picking up at her job and she isn’t as seasonal as they are. She tells them about projects she’s working on, a series they’re gonna put her in charge of on their Youtube page. Sammy quizzes her about it and tries to get her to agree to be interviewed by him for one of his assignments which she staunchly refuses, but she gives him the contact info for some of her coworkers and he makes it work. 

Sammy can almost forget that it’s all gonna end when they’re in Central Park, laying next to each other on a blanket and holding hands because they aren’t notable enough for anyone to pay them any attention. Even on the off chance that either of them had a fan walking around, they’d probably think they were mistaken if they noticed. 

“I think I want to tell Ben,” Sammy says, turning to look at him.

Jack hums, eyes closed and face tilted up towards the sun. Abby was asleep on his other side, her warm head curled onto his chest, and Sammy reached over to stroke one of her floppy ears. “He seems nice. And he’s got Ron, so we know we can trust him. It’s up to you, though - you know him better, so… you can tell him whenever you want to.”

“You sure?” Sammy asks.

Jack opens one eye and grins at him. “Yeah, of course.”

They visit Ben in July and they stay in Ron’s guest room again. Ben shows them the promised library, and the radio station where he interned for a bit in high school. They take a day trip into Denver and Ben shows them the arena he used to play at. Sammy and Jack have to head back pretty soon, though, because Sammy is taking two classes that month and planning on two in June - it’s more than he normally takes in a single semester, but he was planning on graduating in the Fall session rather than taking a single class in the regular semester and waiting until the following Spring.

Ben comes back early in August, a week before training camp is even supposed to start, and pretends it isn’t to spend time with Emily even though he talked about her every time he and Sammy Skype’d and spends most of the day with her as soon as he got into town. Sammy had offered to pick him up from the airport but he’d ‘already found a ride’, which lead to Emily ending up in the apartment for dinner. Jack orders pizza for them because no one had been prepared for more mouths to feed. 

Ben doesn’t seem to notice that Jack hadn’t put any of his stuff in Ben’s room, but maybe he thought that they’d cleaned up for him because they were back to pretending that they used the air mattress. Ben does, however, seem to notice how down Sammy feels when he gets back from driving Jack to the airport, and he puts on a show that Sammy likes and forces him to have a TV marathon before they have to get fully back into the season training regime. Sammy’s grateful that he doesn’t have to say anything, and hopes that Ben doesn’t read too far into it. 

Allie   
@hockeygay   
honestly cryptid content wasn’t what i was expecting from hockey fandom but @jwright68 and @benarnold44 deliver and i’m here for it!  1:33 PM - 26 June 20xx  22  26 

jright68 **203** likes  
**jright68** hanging out in central park w the Love Of My Life…. and @samsstevens67 View all 33 comments Aug 4, 20xx

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Abby is 100% based off my dog and the pictures included are of my dog. My beautiful sweet girl, Riley, is on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/beagle.riley/  
> She helped me write ch8 and edit this one but laying on my whole entire lap so that I couldn't use my laptop! I would die for her thanks.


	8. Soon the snow, but now us

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter title from 'Soon Goodby, Now Love' by Tom Rosenthal
> 
> Sorry this one took a bit to get out!! I'm getting a lot of grief with ch9 but.. the end is in sight!! Hope you like this one!!

Sammy isn’t sure why he doesn’t just tell Ben. Why he didn’t over the summer, even when they were visiting - why he didn’t when Jack was still in town after Ben came back. 

He runs into Emily in the arena on his way out of a meeting with the video coach. Those meetings had gotten way less painful since playing with Ben, now that there was actually  _ something _ to see on his tape - before, it was all ‘ _ it just isn’t connecting… _ ’ and now they’re just asking for more, more of whatever energy he and Ben are capable of bringing. 

“Hey, Sammy!” she greets him cheerfully. He hadn’t had much opportunity to speak to her alone since Ben was always vying for her attention, but she’d been to their apartment a few times in the summer when Ben was there. 

“Hey, Emily,” he replies with a smile. “How’re you doing?”

Emily shrugs. “Oh, you know. They want me to make some kind of campaign for this season to promote engagement between the fanbase and the team, so I’m drafting a few proposals. Do you think I could convince Jack to bring Abby with him when the Sharks come to play us? That would probably make hotels hard, actually, never mind.” 

Sammy laughs lightly as she rambles. “He would smuggle her with him in a heartbeat if he thought it wouldn’t get him scratched. He might bring her at Christmas, if you wanted to do something?”

“Is he coming all the way out here?” she asks lightly. “Our breaks only really line up for Christmas day this year, don’t they?”

Sammy looked down and shrugged, not avoiding her eye but not looking directly at her, either. “Yeah, sort of. He’s gonna fly in after their game on the twenty-third, overnight, and then has to leave in the afternoon of the twenty-sixth. If he can convince his sister to join, he might come to our game on the twenty-fourth.”

“That’s really nice of him.” Emily smiles sweetly, eyes soft. “You two are really lucky to have a friendship like that.”

Sammy feels himself shift uncomfortably and shoves his hands into his pockets, shifting his shoulders to make himself smaller. “Yeah, we are.”

Sammy tries not to startle when Emil places a hand lightly on his arm. “If ever there’s anything you need to talk through, I’m here - as a friend or professional, whichever you need,” she tells him softly, and Sammy has to hold back another flinch.

“Thanks, Emily,” he responds honestly. He appreciates the offer, but the implication is too much to handle. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

“Alright, well - I’ll see you around,” she continues, stepping back and around him. He watches as she continues back into the arena, until she’s turned at the end of the hallway, and wonders what, exactly, she had been offering.

Jack rips the tape off his stick a bit too aggressively, balling it up in his fist and throwing it into the garbage can down the hall. He resists throwing his stick down in front of him - he’d broken two in the last two weeks and he was worried that the equipment manager was starting to get annoyed with him, even though he could probably afford to buy a new stick every game if he wanted. 

“What’s on your mind, bud?” Troy asks from above him.

Jack lets his head fall back and hit the wall above him to look up - and up, and up, and up - at Troy. “Nothing,” he answers despondently. 

Troy raises an eyebrow skeptically at him and lowers himself to the ground with his back against the opposite wall. “Do you need new tape?”

Jack shakes his head and starts to wrap the blade of the stick again. “It’s not that, I’m just - keyed up, I guess. It’s stupid.”

Troy kicks his foot against Jack’s. “It’s not stupid if it’s bothering you that much. C’mon, tell your ol’ buddy Troy.”

“It’s superstition stuff,” Jack admits, looking intently at his stick to avoid Troy’s eyes. 

“Anything I can help with?”

Jack smiles at him weakly but shakes his head. “No, but - thanks. I - ever since I moved here, I call Sammy before we go on. And we just talk about stuff, like we used to when we played together. But - he’s on right now, he can’t pick up. It’s not the first time it’s happened, and it’s not his fault or anything, obviously - I wouldn’t want him to jeopardize his career or the game or whatever just because I -”

“Because you miss him?” Troy finishes when Jack trails off, and Jack just gives him a jerky nod and swallows around the lump in his throat. Troy pushes himself off the floor and pats Jack’s knee as he goes. “That’s real sweet. You two are lucky to have such a good friendship. Most people can’t keep friends when they get traded, but I can see that won’t be the case with you two.”

“Thanks, Troy,” Jack says softly, not meeting his eyes.

Troy gives him a warm smile. “Any time, bud. I know moving away can be hard, but you can talk to me about it any time, alright?”

“Yeah. I appreciate it.” Jack finishes taping his stick and knocks it against his open palm. “I’ll see you in a minute, I just gotta - finish up.”

“Of course, take your time.” Troy gives him a half-wave before walking back down the hallway.

Jack sighs and lets his head fall forward until his forehead is touching his knees. He pulls his phone out of his sweater pocket and dials Sammy’s number even though he knows no one will pick up.

Sammy was being very patient waiting for Jack to get home after his game. If patient meant that he was waiting with his laptop open to Jack’s skype contact with the mouse hovering over the  _ call _ button. Ben had gone out with Emily, but that was a few hours ago, so Sammy was very aware that he might come back soon. 

Finally the screen flipped to indicate that Jack was calling, and Sammy hit  _ accept _ immediately.

“Babe, that was fucking amazing,” Sammy says quickly, just to see Jack blush and duck his head. “I watched the highlights when we got home, you played so well.”

“Troy set me up,” Jack replies. “I wouldn’t have had such a good game without him.”

“I know that it’s a team sport,” Sammy teases easily. “That doesn’t mean  _ you _ didn’t play well. You had a good game.”

Jack shrugs. “Hopefully I can keep it up, right?”

“You can,” Sammy assures him. “You will. You work harder than anyone.”

Jack smiles at him warmly as Sammy hears the front door open. “I love you.”

“Are you talking to Jack?” Ben says excitedly from the door. There was a quick  _ thump-thump _ of Ben kicking his shoes off and then he threw himself onto the couch next to Sammy, immediately moulding himself to Sammy’s side and resting his head on Sammy’s shoulder. “You guys are too sweet. Hey, Jack!”

Sammy felt himself tense slightly as he hears Jack greet Ben. He looks over at Ben as he starts to ramble about some book he’d read, and then at Jack on the screen, just as excited and engaged. “Hey,” he interupts, voice more steady than he’d expected, “Can I -”

“Of course,” Jack says quickly. “Do you want me to stay on?”

Sammy nods. “Yeah, please.”

Ben looks between them, confused. “What’s up?” he asks.

Sammy glances at Jack one last time before turning towards Ben the best he could, with Ben still pressed against his side and his laptop perched precariously in his lap. “Jack and I are dating,” he says quickly, words tumbling out all in a rush. 

Ben pulls back slightly and Sammy feels the lose keenly until he realizes it’s only far enough for Ben to look Sammy in the face. “For real?” he asks. There’s a note to his voice that Sammy can’t quite identify, but it isn’t disbelief - it’s not even negative. Sammy just nods in response. “How long?”

Sammy shrugs. “Four years? Five?”

“Four and a half,” Jack answers from the screen. “More or less.”

“You never used the air mattress at all, did you?” Ben says. “This explains so much. How did I never notice?”

“We didn’t want you to,” Sammy says gently. 

Ben groans and drops his head back to Sammy’s shoulder. “I really didn’t pick up any hints, huh?”

“To be fair, no one ever does,” Jack chimes in. “Hockey bromance culture leaves us a lot of room for deniability.”

“You guys stayed at Ron’s and I  _ knew _ he only had one guest room,” Ben continues. “I am, like, really happy for you guys, though,” he adds quickly. “This isn’t new or anything but - you guys are really close, and I’m happy that you can have that, and that you’ve trusted me enough to tell me.”

Sammy reaches around and pats Ben’s shoulder. “Thanks. It means a lot. And, uh, I think it goes without saying but -”

“I won’t tell anyone else,” Ben assures him. He wraps his arms around Sammy as much as he can at the awkward angle. “I love you guys.”

The conversation shifts as Ben launches back into a discussion of something Sammy didn’t bother following, instead watching the others talk animatedly. Eventually it devolved in Jack turning the camera on Abby, allowing Ben to coo over how sweet she was when she was sleeping, and then Ben went to bed and Sammy wanders from the living room to his bedroom. 

“That went well,” Jack says idly. “He’s a good friend.”

Sammy nods, making himself comfy in bed. “Yeah. He thinks you’re really cool, which helps.”

Jack laughs. “I am cool. He cares about you a lot, though.”

Sammy hums noncommittally in response. “I know,” he answers. “Do you think - no one has, since Ron, but -” he cuts himself off with a tired sigh. “Soon?”

Jack nods. “Soon.”

It starts to snow the day they head to California to start their west coast road trip. 

“This is gonna suck to come home to,” Ben mutters, looking out the airport window as the big flakes drifted past, already starting to dust the runway and lawn. 

“Are you excited?” Ben asks quietly when they’re settled in on the plane.

Sammy resists the urge to roll his eyes because - yeah, yeah of course he is. “I’m just glad Coach agreed to make this my curfew exception.”

“Was it not last year?”

Sammy shrugs. “Yeah, he put it on record then. But it didn’t matter, because Jack was - is living with Troy, so I… smuggled him back into the hotel while the guys were out drinking. He had to leave before they came back.”

“Will you tell Troy or do you want me to run interference?” Ben asks seriously, and Sammy felt a swelling of affection in his chest that Ben would even offer. He knew that he and Troy knew each other, that both of them knew Ron.

“Jack’s planning on telling him before the game, at least to ask if I can come over,” Sammy replies.

“Troy won’t care,” Ben says with certainty. “You showed up at Christmas last year; he thinks you’re the best.”

Sammy nods. “I know. Troy’s a good guy.”

“That doesn’t really help, does it?” 

Sammy shakes his head.

The first thing that Sammy sees when their plane touches down and he takes his phone off airplane mode was a text from Jack.

_ Troy asked if he should buy pride tape lol _

“What are you grinning about?” Ben teases, and Sammy instinctively shuts his phone screen off before remembering that - Ben knows. Ben doesn’t care. Or, he does care, just not in a bad way.

He turns the screen back on and shows Ben the text.

“Oh, should we?” Ben says, a bit  _ too  _ earnestly, and Sammy knocks his shoulder.

“No,” he answers decisively. “Not unless we have an event,” he amends. 

“Ron helped raise me, basically,” Ben reminds him, “That’s like - public knowledge. No one blinks when I share stuff on social media or whatever. Like, pride events, that kinda stuff.”

“I know,” Sammy says quickly. “I just meant - you don’t have to. It’s kinda a gimmick, the way some people do it, but I know you actually mean it.”

Ben grins at him, and then they’re all trying to get off the plane with their excessive carry-on baggage.

_ Ben wants to get some now, too _ , Sammy sends back, one handed, while they waited to disembark. 

Jack’s reply is quick, and Sammy has to suppress a smile, thinking about him waiting by his phone.  _ Maybe we all should _ .

Then:  _ I’m serious _

_ People wouldn’t think anything of it ‘cause we all know Ron _

Sammy bit his lip lightly and took a moment too long to reply. He hoped that Jack just assumed he got caught up walking and dealing with the general travel things.  _ Yeah, might be fun _ .

The Sharks win, because not only has Jack been on a good streak, so has the team. Jack got two goals, luckily neither while Sammy and Ben were on the ice because they weren’t line-matched. As Troy told it at the out-of-the-way bar they’d picked to meet up at afterwards, the guys hadn’t wanted to let Jack go out with the enemy until Troy had vouched for them - and promised to keep an eye on Jack.

“You did amazing,” Sammy says cheerfully when Troy and Jack finally arrive.

Jack blushes and slides into the booth next to Sammy, reaching under the table to squeeze his thigh and then just leaving his hand there, because none of the other patrons were going to notice and the only people with them knew already. Sammy tries not to revel in the novelty of it and fails. It feels like that first year all over again, when they were anonymous in the vastness that was Central Park and Jack took his hand. “Thanks,” he says quietly. 

Troy launches into a story about how Jack had become the defacto mediator in the locker room. “Doyle and Chickenfoot used to pull all kindsa dangerous pranks - I always wondered when they’d get scratched, but they managed to keep it below the Coaches radar. Jack, though - he’s good at stopping them before they really get going.”

“Well, he had practice with keeping me and Lily from killing each other,” Sammy says with a laugh. “Also - Chickenfoot? I didn’t realize he got traded.”

Jack nods. “Yeah, right after he, uh, broke my wrist.”

“He did what?” Ben demands. “How do you still deal with him?”

Jack shrugs. “It was on the ice. Dirty hit, but - it happens. Don’t really blame him, it’s just the role he got put in.”

“Still,” Ben mutters, “that would spoil how I saw a guy, y’know? I didn’t talk to Troy for like three years after he put me on IR for two weeks in juniors.”

“I didn’t even know it was you!” Troy says quickly, clearly a reaction from a very old argument.

Ben reaches over and pats his shoulder reassuringly. “I know, buddy.”

The conversation shifts off the professional hazards of their job, and eventually they were approaching curfew time and Ben had to order an Uber to get back to the hotel.

“Maybe I should ask Coach for an exception here, too,” Ben says lightly.

Sammy laughs and ruffles his hair. “Keep it with Colorado. Your mom would be so mad if you couldn’t stay at her place when we play there.”

Ben reluctantly agrees before saying his goodnights, and the other three head back to Troy’s apartment. They hadn’t set up an extra bed for Sammy to pretend to use, and even though Sammy already knew that Troy had been told, he still feels warmth filling his chest. 

Emily is over at their apartment a lot in the lead-up to Christmas. 

“I think I want to tell her,” Sammy announces to Jack - and Ben, who’d invited himself on their Skype date after Emily had left and Sammy had tried to go to the privacy of his own room. He’d gotten there, but Ben had followed.

“As your media manager or friend?” Jack asks. “Either way - I’m with you. But if we’re approaching the media manager we might wanna have our own plans to go to her with?”

“As our friend,” Sammy confirms. “But maybe also sort of as a PR professional, since she is. As a friend who can give advice in the specific field we need to know about, I guess.”

“We can set up a time for me to talk to her, also, if we need to. And eventually talk to our PR guy over here - I don’t even know if I’ve ever met him, honestly. But maybe Emily can help with that,” Jack reasons.

“Are you guys talking about coming out?” Ben asks, seemingly snapping out of whatever reverie he’d entered when they’d started talking about Emily.

Sammy laughs a bit at the face he was making, surprised with a touch of love-struck. “Yeah. We want to, eventually.”

“When?” Ben asks.

Sammy looks at Jack, who’s giving him a soft look through the screen. “Soon,” Jack says.

“Soon,” Sammy agrees.

Sammy tells Emily the next time she’s over, which is the very next evening. It’s only two weeks until Christmas, when Jack will be in town, anyway. “You know Jack Wright?” he starts. “You met him this summer, he used to live here?”

Emily nods, politely listening. “Yeah, he was nice. Ben’s his biggest fan.”

“Hey -” Ben protests weakly, and Sammy nudges his shin under the table

“You like him better than me, don’t front,” Sammy says. “That’s not it, though. He and I - we’re together. We’ve been dating for a long time.”

Emily looks up and smiles at him softly. “Thanks for trusting me with that.”

“How long have you known?” Sammy asks when he realizes that she isn’t even a little bit surprised.

“The first time I saw you two together,” she admits. “It’s - you guys are really good at keeping it lowkey, I promise. Ben didn’t know then, but obviously you’ve told him already. I’m just… a bit more observant. No offense, Benny.”

“None taken,” Ben says, voice melting slightly.

“I’m also not as in tune with the macho-bro culture stuff, so it’s bit easier to tell the difference between like, the bromance that you and Ben have, and actual romance,” she continues.

“Was I the only one who couldn’t tell?” Ben moans weakly.

Sammy shakes his head. “Troy didn’t know until Jack said. Ron could tell, but - I mean, that makes sense. We didn’t tell anyone else, and I doubt any of the guys can tell.”

“I can pretty much guarantee that they can’t,” Emily confirms. “I’ve met a lot of hockey bros and you guys aren’t the best at interpersonal stuff. No offense.”

“It’s a fair assessment,” Sammy allows. “I’m telling you this as a friend,” he says, repeating what he’d said to Jack, “but I’m also curious about options for - for coming out.”

Emily’s back straightens as she shifts to a semi-businesslike tone. “What’s the timeline you guys are thinking about? I can work with anything. I might need to talk to some of the Sharks media team, though, so we could get that going, and I’ll want to talk to Jack about this also.”

Sammy takes a deep breath and thinks back to talking to Jack the night before, after he’d kicked Ben out of his bed. They’d kept talking about it, at length. What they wanted, when they wanted it, their expectations. “After playoffs,” Sammy answers. “But - this season. Soon.”

Kayly   
@devilsg1rl   
see he was just settling in! he’s better without stevie  8:43 PM - 3 Jan 20xx  9  11 

Allie   
@hockeygay   
@devilsg1rl you really betray your username, you know that?  8:45 PM - 3 Jan 20xx  12  14 

Deadspin   
@Deadspin   
Jack Wright @jwright68 spotted going into a jewellery store in San Jose. Could there be a mystery woman?  2:39 PM - 4 Jan 20xx  5  22 

Ron arrives a week before Christmas when they have a home stretch, and comes to all the games. Sammy hadn’t been able to imagine Ron interacting with Ben when he’d first met Ben, who was a little ball of energy even after they’d just played three back-to-back games and come home off a red-eye, until he’d visited them in King Falls and seen it in action. Ron was patient with Ben in a way that Sammy had quickly realized most people aren’t - he let Ben get all his rambling done before commenting, and always took him at his word, even when the word was about Bigfoot. Sometimes especially then.

Sammy finishes his last final - ever, which is weird to think about - on the twentieth, and Jack arrives in the morning on the twenty-third. Sammy gets to pick him up from the airport, blissfully alone, while Ron and Ben are back at the apartment. 

“I missed you,” Sammy says against his mouth when they’re safely in the car.

Jack grins and kisses him back. “You, too. Always.”

Sammy pulls aways reluctantly when Jack’s hands start to play at the hem of his shirt. “I read an interesting article the other day,” he starts slowly, lips curling up into a smile when Jack groans. 

“Who sent it to you?” he asks, dropping his head to Sammy’s shoulder and hiding his face against Sammy’s neck.

“Ben,” Sammy admits easily. “But I have a Google alert set up for both of us.”

“Who set that up for you?” Jack asks, more rumble against Sammy’s neck than noise. “‘Cause I know it wasn’t you.”

“Emily. You’re avoiding the question.” Sammy moves his hand to the back of Jack’s head, threading his fingers easily through the hair at the nape of his neck. 

Jack stays silent for a beat too long, and Sammy is about to press him on it when he finally speaks. “If I promise you’ll find out soon, will you drop it?”

“Babe,” Sammy says softly. He tugs on Jack’s head softly until Jack sits back up and looks at him, and then immediately presses a soft kiss against his mouth. Jack goes easily, trying to deepen the kiss as Sammy pulls away again. “You know I’ll say yes. Just in case you were wondering.”

“I didn’t say anything about that,” Jack says, but he can’t meet Sammy’s eyes. “No idea what you’re talking about.”

Sammy leans in to kiss him one more time before pulling all the way back, resolutely starting the car. “Take your time.”

They hadn’t really talked to Ron about starting to come out to people, which Sammy quickly realizes when Jack drapes himself over Sammy’s back in the kitchen while Ben is in eyesight. Ron looks questioningly at them and Sammy just nods. 

It’s easy then to tell Ron about the plans they’d started to draw up with Emily. She and Jack had contacted the Sharks media team as well, and they were on board with whatever Sammy and Jack wanted. They just hadn’t decided  _ what _ , exactly, they wanted.

Telling Lily was harder. They called her on Christmas, when Ron and Ben had gone out to give them a moment alone under some pretense, because she couldn’t be bothered to make the trip out to Newark and didn’t want them bothering her in her New York apartment.

“We’re coming out at the end of the season,” Jack announces to her, trying for an easy tone but he was obviously tense. Sammy rubs a hand along the back of his shoulders and Jack leans into his side.

“Are you serious?” Lily asks, almost angrily. “After that article looking for your ‘secret girlfriend’ posted those photos of us? Is it because of that?”

Jack cringes, shoulders folding inwards. “No?”

“Are you guys engaged?” she demands.

“Also no,” Jack answers, a bit more easily, and Sammy graciously pretends to not notice the guilty look that Jack gives him.

“Then why -” she cuts herself off quickly. “I’m still on speaker, right?”

“Yeah, still here. Hi, Lily,” Sammy says.

“If you didn’t say yes you’re a goddamn idiot,” she tells him matter-of-factually.

Sammy chuckles and Jack flashes him a half-angry look, which Sammy ignores. “He has to ask first,” he says calmly. “But I’ll say yes.”

“I know I already told you I’d kill you if you hurt him,” Lily says, “but that hasn’t changed. Watch your back, Stevens.”

She hangs up the phone unceremoniously, because Lily was always one with a flair for the dramatic, and Jack sags further into Sammy’s side. “Did she actually give you the shovel talk?”

Sammy laughs. “Yes. It was when your family flew in to watch our final playoff game in juniors.”

Jack tilts his head up to give Sammy a confused look. “We hadn’t even told her yet, though?” 

“I don’t know if she realized we were actually together yet,” Sammy admits, “but… we were never really subtle about how we felt. She at least knew that you, uh - you wanted to be.”

“You had the biggest crush on me,” Jack argues, “she probably just got the vibes from you.”

“We were already dating!” Sammy says defensively. “Of course I had a crush on you by then. Don’t pretend you were any better.”

Jack shrugs awkwardly, not wanting to move away from Sammy. “Yeah, I mean, obviously. I’m just saying she never talked to  _ me _ about it, so…”

Sammy rearranges them on the couch so that he’s laying down, and he pulls Jack on top of him until Jack’s head is resting on his chest. “I told her that I wanted to marry you, back then.”

“We were in high school,” Jack says, scandalized. 

“Yeah,” Sammy confirms, “and I knew that you were it for me. So - you don’t have to worry about it, okay? If you’re looking for a moment…”

“I’m not,” Jack says quickly. “I - it’s not - I want to marry you, also, but - I’m not waiting for a moment. Not right now. I don’t even -” he stops abruptly, and Sammy can feel the tension in his jaw. 

Sammy rubs a hand reassuring on Jack’s back. “Okay.”

“I’m serious,” Jack continues. “We still need to decide how we’re gonna come out, and what that’s gonna look like.”

Sammy makes a thoughtful noise. “We should get a house with a big yard, for Abby.”

“She’d like that,” Jack agrees. “Enough rooms for - for Lily, or Ben, or Ron, or - one day, if we wanted to -”

“A baby,” Sammy finishes easily, his voice steadier than he ever expected it to be. There was a time when the idea of marriage and baby, that kind of irrevocable proof, would have paralyzed him. “Definitely a nice nursery.” 

Jack fidgets uncomfortably and Sammy just runs a hand through his hair. “Yeah,” he agrees, voice strained. “One day. We don’t really have the job security.”

Sammy hums again. “You know, I’ve been thinking about that. I finished up my classes, I’ll get my degree when they do their next graduation ceremony, and - I know I’ve been playing better with Ben -”

“You’ve been playing amazing, but go on,” Jack interjects. 

“This isn’t… the same for me as it is for you,” Sammy continues. “I love it, or I wouldn’t have even ended up in juniors, but - I don’t have the same passion for it that you do, or that most of the guys do. I think I might want to try and do - something with my degree instead. Not this year, but - I’m thinking about retiring.”

Jack doesn’t say anything right away. “Okay,” he says finally. “I’m with you no matter what, you know that, right? Whatever you choose, I’ll support that.”

“I know,” Sammy replies softly. “And all  _ you _ have to do is ask.”

Jack groans and taps his fits against Sammy’s chest. “I get it.”

Jack doesn’t ask before he leaves, and Sammy isn’t surprised but he has to try not to be disappointed. 

“I don’t know  _ what _ he’s waiting for,” he complains to Emily a few weeks later, when it became clear Jack was waiting for  _ something _ . 

Emily shrugs. “Maybe he wants it to be a big public thing,” she suggests. “So he’s waiting until after you’re out?”

Sammy shakes his head. “He wouldn’t want that.”

“What are you guys talking about?” Ben asks, finally.

Emily rolls her eyes affectionately. “Don’t worry about it, Benny.”

A couple days before the Sharks come to Newark, Ben comes home flustered. “Emily asked me out,” he says, like he can’t quite believe it. “But it’s - she wants to go out after the game on Saturday. She was pretty specific about it.”

“You better have agreed,” Sammy replies. “You’ve only wanted this since you met her.”

“Yeah, but - you and Jack -”

“Good,” Sammy interrupts, because Ben is starting to look stressed. “Enjoy your date - I’m sure Jack and I will be fine.”

Jack looks nervous from the moment he gets into Sammy’s car after the game. Sammy doesn’t comment on it, but they swing by the grocery store to get some stuff to make dinner. 

Once they’re cooking, Jack seems to relax. He pulls his chair close in next to Sammy’s so that their sides are touching as they eat, but he doesn’t stray from the usual small talk.

“Can you let me do this?” Jack asks when they’re done eating.

Sammy smiles. “I can’t promise anything.”

Jack sighs and pulls the little velvet box out of his sweater pocket. “I wanted to surprise you,” he says grumpily. “I had a whole speech and everything, and I wanted it to be a surprise - I didn’t even think that the media would care about jewellery shopping.”

“You’re kind of a known batchelor,” Sammy points out. “They were just curious.”

“Yeah, but - I know you know, okay?” Jack continues. “But, I just - I had this idea for how to make it perfect and can you let me? Please?”

Sammy leans forwards and kisses him softly. “Sure.” He gestures in front of himself. “The floor is yours.”

Jack takes the box and gets down on one knee in front of Sammy, looking up at him with more affection than Sammy thinks he can take. “Sammy Stevens,” he says, all too serious, and Sammy has to hold back a laugh despite the warmth in his chest. Jack swats at his knee and Sammy reaches out quickly enough to grab his hand, tangling their fingers together because he feels so much, all at once, and hates that convention has Jack not touching him. “Be quiet. I’ve been in love with you since we were sixteen, when you pretended to be bad at math so I would tutor you. I’ve known I wanted to be with you forever since we were eighteen and some force in the universe decided we should get to be on the same team. And - we’re so lucky that we got to have that for as long as we did. But I miss you so much every single day that we don’t. And I can’t wait anymore without knowing we’ll get back to that - to being together every day. Sammy, will you -”

“Yes,” Sammy interrupts quickly, unable to keep himself silent for any longer. 

“- marry me?” Jack finishes, eyes narrowing slightly. “I could just take it back -”

“You won’t,” Sammy says knowingly. “You love me way too much, you just said so. Yes, I’ll marry you.” He tugs at the hand he’s still holding and leans down to meet Jack halfway, pushing his free hand into Jack’s hair as he kisses him deeply. “I’ve known since the day we met that I’d say yes.”

Jack laughs breathlessly and fumbles with the ring box, removing it and holding it out to Sammy. Sammy reluctantly untangles his fingers from Jack’s but doesn’t fully let go of his hand. “You’re lying, but that’s sweet.”

“You’ll never be able to prove it,” Sammy counters, and then Jack is putting the ring on him and the world almost narrows around them, and the only thing that Sammy can focus on is Jack. The ring is simple, no stones but a carved swirling design in the metal. “Jack -”

“I know,” Jack says. He puts the empty box on the table and pushes himself up until his face is more in line with Sammy’s. “I love you so much.”

Sammy can’t find the words to reply, instead just moving to kiss Jack again. His hand feels inexplicably heavy, he can feel the gap where he can’t feel Jack’s skin against his hand. He wonders what the cool metal feels like to Jack, if it’s as obvious to him as it is to Sammy, and then Jack says, “Emily only promised to keep Ben out for another hour, not all night.”

“Then we better make the most of it,” Sammy answers, and kisses Jack again.

* * *

**Jack Wright Opens Up; Long-Distance Relationships, Best Friends, and Moving Forwards**

The conversation doesn’t happen in Jack Wright’s apartment. It doesn’t even happen in San Jose, where he’s still living and playing. It happens in his old apartment in Newark, that he used to share with his teammate, Sammy Stevens. The two of them still live here together in the summer when Stevens new roommate has gone home.

**You two must have a strong bond, since you’re still living together in the off season even though you got traded.**

J: You could say that. 

_ We met up after his game against the Devil’s. He has a curfew exception for Newark so that he can stay here, even as new roommate Ben Arnold - defence partner of the other inhabitant of this apartment - continues to use the second bedroom. Ben spends the entire interview sitting in an armchair, pretending to read. _

**You have a lot of interview opportunities. Why choose this one to make your announcement?**

J: We wanted to do this our own way. Make it special, something we had control over. 

**‘We’ being?**

J: You’re jumping ahead. 

**Sorry. Why not a Player’s Tribune article or a tweet?**

J: Well, Ron did the first one. Ron Begley, sort of our mentor, I guess. And a tweet feels... like a reduction. This is important. To us and to people who might look up to us. 

**Would I be jumping ahead if I asked who ‘we’ are now?**

J: No. Me and my - fiancé. 

_ He hesitates before using the title, but it isn’t out of nervousness. He grins and ducks his head when he says it, like he can’t believe it’s real, and I can see a simple ring on his left hand. Ben’s head shoots up from where he sits in the corner, seemingly startled by this revelation. _

B: Fiancé? Why didn’t you tell me? Is that why Emily asked me out? Oh my God.

J: We just told you! And no, she wanted to ask but I suggested today was a good idea.

**Congratulations. Why is your engagement so important? You’ve always been relatively private, despite your Twitter use.**

J: Because, and this will be clear once you’ve written it, my fiancé is a man. Was my boyfriend until now. 

B: Guys I need this to stop so you can tell me every single detail about how this happened. Please, I’m begging.

**Is it someone that we might know?**

J: Yes. My old teammate, and sometimes-roommate, Sammy Stevens.

B: I’m so serious right now what happened when I was gone?

**Would you mind if I asked some personal questions?**

J: You know, normally I wouldn’t agree, but you have a trustworthy face.

_ Ben continues to beg Jack to stop the interview and tell him about the engagement, but Jack ignores him. _

**In the time you’ve been together, you’ve lived together and been long-distance. How was it, for you, coping with that change?**

J: It was really hard. It is really hard. Living together - that was a dream come true. We could just be together without worrying about people watching us all the time. It wasn’t perfect, obviously, but it was still amazing. 

**And now?**

J: It’s not bad now, or anything. We’re as solid as ever - obviously - but. I miss him every day. Sometimes I miss him when he can’t text me back for an hour, even if he’s at practice or playing or something. It didn’t used to be like that - I think it’s just that we have so little contact, face to face, that it makes it worse when we can’t keep up what little we have. We try to Skype as often as we can, though, and that helps. It doesn’t fix anything but it helps.

**Does it bother you when Ben interrupts your Skype dates to ask about cryptids?**

J: Yes.

B: You love it!

J: I think my fiancé would hate if I said that, so. It absolutely bothers me, for sure. Even though I think Sammy secretly finds it charming.

**I don’t see why he would.**

J: He puts up a front. He loves us too much.

**Next question. What’s your favourite thing about your fiancé?**

J: How he puts up with me and Ben talking about cryptids for the only hour we have to call each other.

**He sounds like a saint.**

J: I wouldn’t go that far. He hogs the blankets and you know, he’s a cat person.

**I don’t see how that’s a bad thing.**

J: Maybe not. He didn’t get too mad when I got a dog so  _ maybe _ I’ll allow it.

**How generous of you.**

J: He knows I’d let him do anything he wanted.

**What about adopting Ben?**

J: I’ve already got the paperwork started.

B: Do I get a say in this?

J: No.

B: Alright, but you’re the one who’s telling my mom. Anyway, I already have a gay dad.

J: Is it that much weirder to have three gay dads, when two of them are barely older than you?

B: Sammy’s more like my brother than my dad!

**Anyway, back on topic - why now? Why have you decided to make your relationship public now?**

J: There’s a lot of reasons. We didn’t always know we wanted to come out at all, but after Ron did we had the idea that that was what our future would look like, eventually. And then I was traded, and the distance was really hard, and dealing with that on top of not being able to really talk to anyone was even worse. And - I proposed. It would be a lot harder to be secretly married than secretly dating, and neither of us want to deal with that.

B: Tell me about the proposal! 

_ Jack throws one of the couch pillows at Ben and it hits him in the face but he does not appear fazed or deterred. Ben clutches the pillow to his chest, having long ago abandoned the book he was ‘reading’ to the coffee table. _

B: The people want answers!

**Would you tell me about the proposal?**

J: I think some things should just be ours.

**Aside from the wedding, do you have any plans for the future with your husband?**

J: Well, we definitely want to live together again. On the same coast, full-time - not just the off-season. And my fiancé just got a journalism degree, which I’m very proud of! He worked really hard for it, and I’m excited for what he’ll be doing with that. And one day, once we have a settled home and everything, we’d like to have kids.

B: You  _ guys _ ! A  _ baby _ ?

_ Ben drops the pillow, staring at us on the couch in shock. After he regains his bearings, he hops out of the chair and throws himself between us. _

J: Not yet, Ben!

B: I’m gonna be your baby’s best friend.

**Don’t we get a say?**

B: No.

_ By: Sammy Stevens _

_ 12 June 20xx _

* * *

Jack Wright   
@jwright68   
so proud of my fiance @samstevens67 for being a college grad!!!! u worked so hard for this  1:24 PM - 12 Jun 20xx  189  201 

Allie   
@hockeygay   
i???? wow. we already decided to stan forever but if anyone comes for them now i’ll kill them  1:32 PM - 12 Jun 20xx  33  46 

Carlyn   
@florida--man   
i’ve BEEN SAYING  1:36 PM - 12 Jun 20xx  24  31 

Ben Arnold   
@benarnold44   
i’m so proud of my best fiend @samstevens67 !!! first published article love u  1:40 PM - 12 June 20xx  103  122 


	9. Easier Said Than Done

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey so I know it's been a thousand years.. This has been done for a While but I didn't wanna post it before I was done ch10. I'm not done ch10. I'm like half to three quarters of the way and hope to be done this month but.. we'll see. I just wanted to get this out though to prove I'm still alive!
> 
> That being said this chapter is Very fluffy but does deal with some homophobia typical of this fic thus far. I'm happy with how it turned out but I still kinda feel a Way about it that's more due to my anxiety than the content so like.. comments would go a long way to assuaging that lbr.

It takes fifteen minutes after the article is posted for all of their phones to start vibrating insistently. Sammy’s phone just flashes  _ Unknown Number _ so he hits the lock button to drop it and turns off his phone. Jack grimaces and accepts the call that comes through on his, and Sammy hears Lily’s voice on the other end yelling something that sounds like ‘ _ Engaged _ ?’ at Jack before Jack walks out of the living room. 

And then there’s silence.

“Emily’s coming over,” Ben says after a beat. “She said to keep our phones off until she gets here, and she’ll help with fielding calls and stuff.”

“I really don’t think there’s anything more to say,” Sammy admits.

Ben shrugs and moves over to the couch to occupy Jack’s vacated seat. “That’s not how media’s gonna see it. They’re just gonna want you to say the same stuff over and over, but - they still want you to say it to  _ them _ rather than having to quote another source.”

Emily arrives five minutes later, which makes Sammy think she had already been on her way. It was most surprising that she hadn’t already been there by the time the article was scheduled to go live, honestly. “Have you talked to anyone?” she asks, polite as always but with a no-nonsense tone that Sammy recognizes from when she had to admonish the other guys for not thinking before posting.

Sammy shook his head and handed her his phone. She took it and sighed before turning it back on. Immediately, it started to vibrate again, and she dropped the call. “Okay, here’s what’s gonna happen,” she starts, and then cuts herself off. “Where’s Jack?”

Sammy jerks his thumb behind himself, towards the bedrooms. “Talking to Lily.”

Emily nods. “Alright. Well - you shouldn’t answer any of the calls, but you should probably reply to texts and direct messages, because those are more likely going to be from teammates and people you know. Also any polite Twitter or Instagram messages you get - remember to liberally block anyone who uses hate speech or is rude or who’s tone you just don’t like. But with the nice ones, give them a quick ‘thanks for the support’, it’ll go a long way. “

Sammy accepts the phone back from her and takes a deep breath. There isn’t anyone calling but there’s fifteen missed calls and seven voicemails. He clicked on the phone app first just to see - most were unknown numbers, save for a call from Troy, but one stuck out. He didn’t have it saved in his phone, not since he’d gotten a new one a few years back, so it was also listed as  _ unknown _ but it stuck out. How could he forget his childhood landline? He wonders idly if his parents had moved and kept the number, or if they still lived in the same house, before deleting the notification and moving on to his texts.

There was one from Lily that just said ‘ _ you have some explaining to do _ ’ that he ignored, ones from Troy and Loretta that were a variety of heart emojis and congratulations along with Troy requesting Sammy to get Jack to call him, and a handful from teammates (both present and from juniors) expressing confused congratulations. 

Jack walks back into the room looking a bit cowed by whatever Lily had said. “Hey, Emily,” he says lightly. “Uh, Lily says congrats, Sammy.”

Sammy raises his eyebrows incredulously and Jack shrugs. “Troy wants you to call,” Sammy replies. 

Jack waves his phone. “I know; he texted me. I’ll get to it in a second. What’s the plan, Emily?”

Emily repeats what she’d told Sammy and Ben, and then adds, “Take a break if you need it? It might get really draining, especially if people come to you with heavy stuff, and it’s okay to just turn your phone off for an hour.”

Once Sammy and Jack have replied to their teammates, and Jack’s called Troy, there isn’t actually that much that happens. The occasional unknown number pops up, but mostly Emily is busy with calls to her work cell. They’d given her permission to organize whatever interviews or statements she felt they’d need to give, and people had clearly realized that to reach them they’d have to go through her.

The calls stopped first, then the texts from people they actually knew and, eventually, the notifications of mentions and new messages on social media trickled to a crawl.

“I’m gonna order so much pizza,” Emily announces, flopping against Ben’s side on the armchair where they’d both ended up curled up together. “And none of you are gonna complain about your diet because it’s the offseason, and one of you will pay because your salary per day is what I make in a month.”

It’s a fair trade.

“We’re going to Pride,” Emily announces, walking into the kitchen where Sammy was making breakfast, “as an organization.”

“When did you get here?” Sammy asks. 

Emily shrugs and goes over to the coffee pot, pouring herself a cup and adding a liberal amount of milk and sugar. She was dressed, and not in the same thing she’d been wearing the day before when she’d been over for dinner, but Sammy could have sworn she’d left. But he and Jack had gone to bed before the others, so - “Last night,” she confirms.

Sammy nods. “I’ll make some more eggs.” He goes back to the fridge to pull out the carton and the pauses with his hand on the door, turning to her. “Pride?”

Emily sips her coffee and nods. “It’ll be voluntary, of course, since we don’t wanna force anyone on the team who might make a scene to go. That would just turn bad really quickly. But as an organization we’re going to get a spot, the mascot will be there, and we’ll have special flags and stuff made for you guys to wear and carry. We’re hoping you and Jack will come, but obviously you don’t have to.”

“You want Jack, who plays for a different team, to come with our float?” Sammy asks incredulously.

“Yeah, well, you play for us, and he’s your fiancé, so he’ll be there as a family member,” Emily confirms idly. “We’ll recommend he doesn’t wear anything from the Sharks, but…” she trails off and shrugs. “So you’ll come?”

“I’ll have to ask Jack but that sounds good,” Sammy answers. He’s surprised by how easily it comes out, just agreeing to go to a Pride event, publicly, with his  _ fiancé _ \- he wonders what sixteen-year-old Sammy, who’d just met Jack for the first time, would say if he could see it. Hell, he wonders what eighteen-year-old Sammy, who’d just moved in with him and was on top of the world, would say. They’d probably be a little confused and more than a little terrified - so mostly the same as he was feeling presently.

“Ask me what?” Jack asks, popping into the kitchen and coming up behind Sammy. He twists to give Sammy a kiss on the cheek before going past and grabbing himself a cup of coffee.

“Pride,” Emily repeats. “Did you and Sammy wanna come? With the Devil’s and everything?”

Jack looks over at Sammy and Sammy just nods. “Sounds fun.”

Sammy narrows his eyes when he walks into the kitchen to find Jack in a Devil’s shirt with Sammy’s name and number in rainbow on it.

“Did you steal my shirt?” he asks. 

Jack looks over his shoulder and grins. “I asked Emily to make two so I could wear one.”

Sammy walks up behind him and puts his hands on Jack’s hips, sliding his fingers under the hem. “Why not ask for your own name?”

Jack shrugs, leaning into Sammy and sipping his coffee. “Maybe I’m trying it out for later.”

“Oh,” Sammy says lamely. “That’s - okay.” He tilts his face to press it against Jack’s neck, trying to hide the warmth he can feel spreading even though he knows Jack can’t see him anyway. It wasn’t something he’d considered before, Jack taking his name - he knew logically that married people did that sometimes, but it still felt like some far off thing for them even though the ring on his finger proved otherwise. These were things that  _ they _ would have to consider, thing they’d have to think about. 

“Are you guys excited?” Ben asks, bouncing into the kitchen, way too chipper for someone going directly to the coffee machine to start their day.

Sammy straightened up and moved far enough away from Jack to face Ben, keeping his left hand on Jack’s hip. “That’s one word for it.”

Ben pours the coffee and then starts to dump spoonfuls of sugar into it. “You don’t actually have to go if you’re uncomfortable.”

“It’s not that,” Sammy says, “I’m just -” he makes a vague gesture with his right hand and Ben nods knowingly, even though Sammy isn’t even sure what he’s trying to convey about the weird turmoil in his head.

“It’s a lot,” Ben agrees easily, and that does about sum it up. “But you won’t really have to deal with too much? Emily can probably give you a better run down, but I walked in a Pride parade in Colorado with Ron last year and we basically were on a side street with other groups who all mutually didn’t wanna bother each other for a few hours, and then we walked the route. Which is pretty hectic, sure, but you can stay in the middle and just wave if you want to, it’s not a big deal.”

Sammy gave him a tight smile. “Thanks.”

Ben finished his horrifying syrup creation and took a contented sip. He walks back past Sammy, patting Jack’s shoulder and then Sammy’s as he passes. “It’ll be fine.”

Sammy’s sure that he’s right but it’s still -  _ a lot. _

They meet Emily at ten on a street corner by an old church. She gives them each quick hugs before leading them to a spot on the sidewalk, spilling out into the street itself, where a couple of the guys from the team have gathered. Sammy spots Finn and Larry right away, and it’s weird to see Larry there without his cousin Dan but Sammy isn’t too surprised that Dan isn’t there. It takes him a second longer to spot -

“Troy?” Jack says, confused by clearly happy, and Sammy saw Troy waving at them from the middle of the assembled group. 

Troy walks over with Loretta following him. “Hey guys!” he says cheerfully, sweeping Jack up into a tight hug before moving to Sammy, then Ben and Emily. “How’re you doing?”

They talk with Troy and Loretta until Emily comes back and has them move to a different street to line up about an hour and a half later. It was longer still until they started to slowly inch forwards and Emily handed out fistfulls of stickers and temporary tattoos and other bits of cheap merchandise. 

Sammy wasn’t sure how far back they were in the order, but it was still a while before they made it onto the actual route. Once they were there, though, it seemed to fly by - he stuck by Jack in the middle of the street, holding his hand tightly. Ben stayed with them most of the time, but he kept running to the sides to hand out the little bits and pieces and take a few selfies - some with fans, and some just with people in the background that appeared to just be for him. After they made it through the parade route, they exited out into a busy marketplace set up. Emily re-appeared and shepherd them onto another deserted side-street where a man was removing a large set of wings and carefully folding them up to put in a backpack, and two girls were collapsed against each other on the sidewalk slowly taking off roller skating gear. 

“Do we have everyone?” she asks. There was a streak of glitter on her cheekbone and Sammy had no idea how it could have gotten there, since he hadn’t seen any of their group carrying glitter at any point.

“I think so!” Finn replies cheerfully, and Emily gives him a thumbs up.

“Awesome, okay,” she says. “You’re all free to go do whatever you want, just be aware that everyone has cameras and whatever you do  _ will _ end up on Twitter, so be smart. Not that you guys are the ones I’d be most worried about, but it’s my job.”

A few of the guys broke off and went towards where there were people, and Ben turns to Sammy and Jack. “What are your plans?”

Sammy looks to Jack, who just shrugs. “I’m kind of exhausted from that?” Sammy admits. “I kinda just want a nap.”

Jack leans towards him, grinning, and Sammy goes to meet him with a kiss, putting his hands on Jack’s face. It still flips his stomach, knowing that they’re out in the open here, where anyone can see - but that’s the point. Jack wanted to kiss him so he did, because he could, because they could do that now. “Sounds like a plan,” Jack agrees.

Sammy never really loved summer break. When he was a little kid in elementary school, sure - no school was great, but he also had to spend all day at home with his parents. Once he hit high school, moved away, and met Jack, there was way less appealing about summer. Summer meant going back home, away from Jack, and back to his parents. He and Jack used to visit during the summer for a few weeks, but it didn’t make it easier to spend all day stuck with no more connections in his hometown. Then summer meant ‘off season’ more than it meant ‘no school (or Jack)’, and it wasn’t that much of a status quo shift besides not having to travel every other week for games - until Jack got traded, that is, and then ‘off season’ meant ‘Jack’s home but Ben’s gone’, which was also bad in ways that Sammy had never predicted or expected. 

This year, Ben stays in Newark for most of the summer, with Betty coming to visit for a few weeks. And Jack stays. So it’s the best summer Sammy’s ever had, probably. 

Driving Jack to the airport is harder even than it was that first time. But they don’t have to worry about being seen so after they manage to get themselves out of the car, Sammy trails Jack into the airport and goes as far as to security with him before he has to turn around. Before the goes he grabs Jack and kisses him, right there. It’s a quick, chaste peck but it makes him feel warm all the way down to his toes because - other people saw that. And it was okay. 

Sammy doesn’t notice a difference right away. Training camp, you have a bunch of new guys who Sammy’s never seen before, and they all stick together because most of them will be sent back down before the end of the week. They stay away from him because they’re staying away from everyone, but he doesn’t notice a difference in the actual team - the guys who  _ will _ be in the locker room by the time the season starts. 

And then the season starts and he notices it. Not immediately - he sticks by Ben, and before he stuck by Ben he stuck by Jack. Sammy was never the most social of the guys in the room. But Myers hasn’t spoken to him directly, and normally Sammy would count that as a win but normally he would have said  _ something _ to Sammy, at some point, even if it was annoying. Some of the other guys, too, avoid his eyes in the locker room. On the ice it’s fine, and Sammy’s glad for that - if it affected his or anyone else’s play that would’ve been the worst case scenario, giving the guys in management a reason to fire him or send him down or trade him. 

Ben sticks just as close as ever, if not closer. Sammy wonders if he notices the sidelong glances, if he feels the silence the same way that Sammy does. Probably not.

Sammy is more surprised by the guys who give him congratulations than anything. He’d expected the worst, prepared for it emotionally, but at least half the guys - some who hadn’t come to the Pride parade along with all the ones who had - had given him some positive message. A guy he barely knew had even awkwardly sat next to him and tried to offer marriage advice. 

Myers doesn’t approach him until they’re at a bar after a game a week before their road trip to California.

“Bet you’re excited,” he says, voice all false camaraderie even though he doesn’t even enter the booth where Sammy is sitting alone while Ben goes to the bathroom. 

Sammy takes a slow sip of his beer, desperately trying to think of ways to get away from Myers. “Sure.”

“I guess we know why you take so long in the shower, huh?” Myers says, raising an eyebrow suggestively.

Sammy sighs and lowers his glass, letting it hit the table with a  _ thunk _ . “I have no idea what you mean, Pete,” he replies slowly, tiredly. 

Myers’ other eyebrow went up and his expression froze in something Sammy couldn’t quite identify. “You know, if you wanted to check out what’s on offer, I wouldn’t blame you - it’s pretty -”

“You don’t have anything to offer,” Sammy interrupts, giving Myers a critical look. “In case you missed it, I’m engaged, and I’m pretty satisfied with that.” He taps his ring finger against the glass, causing a quiet but audible noise of his ring hitting the glass.

“Is there a problem here?” Ben asks, slipping back into the booth across from Sammy and glaring at Myers. 

“Pete was just about to leave,” Sammy answers, turning back to his beer and taking a sip. 

Myers stands there for a second, clearly trying to think of something to give himself the upper hand, before walking away and back to the bar.

Once Myers is out of view, Ben turns to Sammy and his glare softens. “What did he say?”

Sammy shrugs and picks up his drink again. “Nothing really. Just Pete stuff, you know him.”

“Unfortunately,” Ben scoffed, rolling his eyes. “If he actually gives you shit, you can tell me, you know that, right?”

“Yeah, of course,” Sammy reassures him. “There’s nothing to worry about, though.”

Ben doesn’t look wholly convinced, but he lets it slide.

Sammy goes with Jack and Troy to their apartment after Ben’s gone back to the hotel.

“I miss you,” Sammy mutters, turning his face to hide it against Jack’s chest when they’re laying in bed together.

“I’m right here,” Jack replies with a laugh, but he drops a kiss to the top of Sammy’s head where he can reach. “I miss you, too.”

“I keep thinking…” Sammy sighs and trails off. “I’m so glad Ben showed up. I would’ve been so much worse without him. But - I still always wish you were there, too.”

Jack grabbed Sammy’s hand and threaded their fingers together. He could feel the cool metal of Jack’s ring against his skin. “Ben’s pretty great.”

“I wanna retire,” Sammy says, the words coming out all in a rush. He has to say it before he loses his nerve. It’s the right choice - he knows that it’s the right choice, but it’s a huge change. It’s terrifying to consider, shifting his path from the career he’d built his entire life towards and around for years, onto a new one that had only recently appeared as an option.

“What?” Jack shifts to try and look at Sammy and Sammy accommodates it so they’re actually facing each other. “Are you sure?”

Sammy nods. “I wanted this,” he says, referring to - everything, maybe. He isn’t sure. His career, absolutely, and the life they’d made, possibly. “But - I think I wanted it to be with you, at least sort of. I know we talked a bit about me retiring but... I think - at the end of next season. Make next year the last one, and then I’ll move out here or wherever you are then. That way - it would be easier, to start a family and all that. I don’t want to have to wait until we’re old.”

“I love you,” Jack answers immediately, and then he pauses, considers what Sammy’s said. “You know you don’t have to, right? We can figure out how to make things work, you don’t have to retire right now.”

“I know,” Sammy reassures him. “This isn’t - hasn’t been my passion the same way it is for you,” he continues slowly. “I love it, but not more than I love you - I’d rather be here with you than anywhere else.”

There’s an expression on Jack’s face that Sammy can’t fully decipher. Something like shame, maybe - guilt that Jack couldn’t consider leaving his career, as if Sammy could fault him for that or ever expect that of him. “If this is what you want then I think you should,” Jack says, finally. 

“It is,” Sammy answers resolutely. “I’ve been thinking about it for a while and… it’s what I want.”

“Then that’s what you should do.”

Jack leans forwards and kisses him and Sammy knows - it’s the right choice.

Lindsey   
@hockey-and-chill   
ik theyre engaged but they never rly talked about each other in interviews before? (social media sure but thats cuz they lived together). i just find it hard to see  3:10 PM - 29 Nov 20xx  10  13 

Allie   
@hockeygay   
@hockey-and-chill maybe?????? bc they were in the closet???????????? Possibly????????  3:32 PM - 29 Nov 20xx  25  29 

“So when  _ are _ you guys gonna tie the knot?” Lily asks when Jack calls her after Christmas. 

Jack sighs and lays back on his bed. “We haven’t really talked about it.”

Lily made a thoughtful yet judgemental noise on the other end of the line but didn’t say anything.

“What?” Jack prompts, rubbing a hand down his face.

“Well, you know,” she says vaguely, “do you not even have a timeline?”

Jack shrugs even though he knows that she can’t see him. “I guess not? Sammy wants to -” he cuts himself off. Lily and Sammy had always been some kind of acidic towards each other, and he wasn’t sure if even Ben knew about what he and Sammy had talked about.  _ Probably _ , he reasons,  _ Sammy doesn’t keep much from Ben. _ That still didn’t give him the right to tell Lily, necessarily but -

“Sammy wants to what?” she asks.

Jack sends a silent apology to Sammy if he isn’t okay with Lily knowing just yet, and says, “he wants to retire after next season.”

“That’s not surprising,” Lily mutters.

“Why not?” Jack asks, sitting up. He feels more affronted on Sammy’s behalf than he maybe should, but it had always been too easy for him to be swept up in defending one against the other. He had always wished for them to get along differently, but he’d long since lost hope of that happening. “He’s had a great couple seasons, he hasn’t even hit his peak.”

“I’m not saying he isn’t  _ good _ ,” she replies slowly, “though admittedly I don’t pay attention to either of your games. No offence.”

“None taken,” Jack replies, even though he was a  _ little _ offended.

“I’m just saying that it was always more your passion than his,” she continues. 

Jack lets himself fall back onto the bed with a soft laugh, more an exhalation of air than anything. “Yeah, that’s basically what he said.”

“What’s he gonna do instead?” she asks, and there’s some shuffling on the other end of the line that makes Jack think she may have laid down as well or moved the phone. “Or is he just gonna let you be his sugar daddy?”

Jack groans. “He’s made enough money that he would be fine on his own for a while,” he argues. “I know he wants to do something with his degree, and I’m perfectly happy to support him for however long it takes to get that going.”

“Are me and Stevens gonna be competitors?” Lily asks, and her voice is too delighted for Jack’s taste.

Jack hangs up without answering.

“Are you and Lily gonna be competitors?” Jack asks as soon as Sammy picks up the Skype call a few nights later.

Sammy looks confused. “I don’t - what?” 

Jack sighs and leans back against his pillows, adjusting the laptop as he snuggles back into a more comfortable position and watches Sammy do the same. “I told Lily you were probably gonna do something with your degree when you retire and she wants to know if you guys are gonna compete.”

“I mean I’ll probably move to San Jose unless you get traded,” Sammy answers rationally, “and even if you get traded it probably won’t be into the same market that she writes in? So it’s unlikely.”

“Can you imagine if I got traded to the Rangers or the Islanders?” Jack asks and Sammy laughs lightly.

“It wouldn’t be  _ worse _ ,” Sammy admits, “but our schedule is so different from theirs it wouldn’t be much different.”

“Still, I’d get to sleep in our bed more than three nights a season,” Jack says with a soft smile. “Even if you weren’t there with me any more often it would still be  _ ours _ .”

Sammy looks at him with an equally soft expression that makes Jack wish that he could just reach through the screen - which he always wishes, but it’s stronger when Sammy’s looking at him like that. “We’ll get there,” he promises. 

Jack takes a moment to just look at Sammy. It’s stupid, because he made a picture of Sammy at a petting zoo they’d visited with Ben and Emily in the summer his lock screen so that he saw Sammy every time he checked his phone (often to find a text from Sammy). But a picture didn’t compare to seeing Sammy move or hear him speak, and video didn’t compare to being together in person. 

“What’s up?” Sammy asks, face shifting to an expression of concern. 

Jack sighs and looks over at Abby, asleep and curled up right below the second pillow. He reaches out and strokes her soft head, leaving his hand there as he talks. “It’s nothing. Lily just pointed out that we hadn’t talked about a timeline for actually - getting married and all that. Like - do we think we could do this summer? Or should we wait until after you retire?”

“I would do it the next time you come to Newark, honestly,” Sammy answers. “I don’t need something fancy, but Lily and your parents would kill you if they couldn’t come. This summer feels a bit too soon to actually plan something, though, but -”

“I don’t want to wait much longer,” Jack finishes, and Sammy nods emphatically.

“If we can - if it’s possible - then before next season. I’d really like that,” Sammy agrees.

Jack grins at him and hovers his left hand near the screen, making Sammy roll his eyes and reach up so that their fingertips were almost touching. “We’ll make it work. We always do.”

“Are you talking to Jack?” he hears suddenly, muffled from the screen and probably Sammy’s bedroom door.

Sammy groans and drops hand, letting his head fall back and hit the wall. “Yeah. Come in and say hi, Ben.”

Jack can hear the door open and Ben bounds into view quickly, kneeling by the edge of the bed and forcing himself into frame by putting his arms on Sammy’s legs. “Hey! I just finished that Netflix show you told me about, the true stories one? That was wild.”

Jack laughs. “Yeah, what did you think of it?”

Sammy lets Jack and Ben go off on their tangent. He pretends to be annoyed but Jack can see him watching them fondly when he thinks they can’t see him.

Jack is doing really well. With the slump of the last few years, he had almost resigned himself to grinding through for the rest of his career, but something had clicked and he was finally hitting a big stride. The thing about  _ doing well _ , though, was that it took up a lot of his time - between putting in extra workouts with Troy in the apartments gym to try and keep himself on his lucky streak and the increase of media interest in talking to him about both his hot streak and Sammy, he didn’t have much extra time to plan a wedding.

When he told this to Lily, she’d just said “I’ll take care of it” and that scared him more than anything.

“Has she said anything to you?” he asks Sammy, a thread of anxiety seeping into his voice.

Sammy shrugs. “Not really? She said she might actually come to our game when you’re here so I put tickets on reserve but I don’t know if she actually will.”

“My sister terrifies me,” Jack admits, and Sammy just laughs.

“How do you think she makes  _ me _ feel?” he counters, which is fair. “Emily told me that she’d been talking to Lily but I don’t know what it was about. If the two of them are working on something then we’re doomed.”

Jack has to give him that one. 

It was immediately clear that Lily and Emily had been conspiring when Lily actually showed up at the game, and then back at their apartment afterwards with Ben and Emily. 

“The hardest part is location,” Lily opens with when they all sit down in the living room. “Most places, especially around here, are booked up for the entire summer and have been for years.”

“Neither of us need something fancy,” Sammy answers but Emily’s already shaking her head. 

“You don’t wanna wait for hours at city hall, either,” she informs him. “You guys are gonna want sappy group pictures.”

Jack gives Sammy a  _ she’s right _ look and Sammy concedes the point. “Then we’ll have to wait until next year,” he says, audibly a bit disappointed.

“Not exactly,” Lily says. “We talked to Ron, and he said if you guys wanted - you could use his property.”

“He’s ordained,” Ben adds helpfully. “So that’s two birds with one stone right there.”

“It would have to be outdoors,” Emily continues, “so if that’s something you’re okay with, then we can choose a day and get the ball rolling!”

Jack looks over at Sammy who just nods at him, a small smile growing on his face. “I think that would be good,” he says, smiling back.

Jack is as surprised as anyone that he gets invited to the NHL Awards in Vegas. He knew he’d had a good season but he hadn’t thought - hadn’t hoped to think that it was an Art Ross worthy season. 

But it was, apparently.

Jack didn’t have to think twice about getting a seat for Sammy along with Lily and his parents. He marvelled at the ease of it, how he could put Sammy’s name down as  _ family _ without worrying. He would have tried to get Sammy a seat with him before, if Sammy hadn’t already been invited, but it might not have worked out if they didn’t want people wondering. They didn’t have to wonder anymore - Sammy and Jack had made sure of that.

He’s even more surprised that they call his name, even though it’s statistics - whoever has the most points has the most, it isn’t subjective. 

He thanks his parents for being there first, obviously, because they’d had to set aside a whole weekend for it, quickly added Lily because she’d kill him otherwise, and then he pauses. He can say it, it doesn’t matter anymore, everyone  _ knows _ but he still takes a second before he says, “and my fiancé, Sammy Stevens.” And then, because he can, he kisses Sammy when he gets back to his seat.

Kayly   
@devilsg1rl   
i know they’re gay but they don’t have to put it on display like that :/  11:03 PM - 20 June 20xx  3  5 

Allie   
@hockeygay   
@devilsgi1rl listen im gonna say this one last time and then i’m gonna report and block you but That’s Homophobic (signed: a married lesbian, not that i need credentials).  3:09 PM - 5 May 2014  2,144  2,901 


	10. if you're ready

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> <3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So! This is the last one! I'm sorry about the delay but .. school and life. I hope that you enjoy this chapter and have enjoyed this journey :) This was kind of an experiment and I'm happy with how it turned out, and I hope you all are too!
> 
> Also it's my birthday and this is my present to you all

Sammy hadn’t spent a lot of time fantasizing about his wedding when he was a kid. He knew when he was really young that the view of marriage he’d been presented didn’t fit, and then later he knew why and figured it would just never happen for him - he’d never find someone, and it would never be allowed for them. But it was, suddenly, a thing that  _ could _ happen, when he met Jack and it became more real. He’d still never really envisioned the day itself, the act of getting married. He’d thought about being married, all the ways it was the same as the life they already had and the ways it would be imperceptibly different, but not the day. 

Nothing he could have imagined would have held a candle to the day he married Jack.

It had been raining for the week leading up to the day they’d chosen, so there’d been some fear that they’d have to set up inside the Bait Shop itself - which Ron was fully willing to make happen, but Lily protested, claiming she didn’t want her brothers wedding pictures to have camo jackets in the background.

But the sun came out and the ceremony went off without a hitch and Lily got her nice photos by the lake. 

“I expected everything to go wrong,” Jack admits quietly, moving to speak into Sammy’s ear. He has his arm along the back of Sammy’s chair as the small assembled group dances energetically to Ben’s iPhone that was hooked up to an old speaker. 

Sammy shifts to lean into his side. He’s tired, it’s been a long day, and Jack - his  _ husband _ , which he can’t stop hearing in his head on repeat - is warm and solid by his side. “Did you?”

Jack hums in affirmation and presses a kiss to the side of his head. “I don’t know, I guess - when I thought about it in my head I always pictured Lily starting a fight with you or a guest, or no one showing up, or something. But this was -”

“Perfect,” Sammy agrees. 

“Yeah,” Jack says, his voice thick, and he settles his weight against Sammy.

Sammy watches their friends dance. The sun has set completely, leaving them under the old canopy with assorted outdoor lights stuck into the ground around them. There were a few camping chairs around the edges but it was mostly space to move around. 

Ben bounces over, grinning ear to ear. His eyes are still red as he hasn’t fully stopped crying since the ceremony but he reaches out to grab at Sammy, who goes willingly with a smile thrown back at Jack, who gets up to follow them. 

The first sounds of rain started hitting the tent as they re-joined the group.

They didn’t get a lot of time for vacation during the season, obviously, and in the summer there was the concern of people thinking it was weird if Sammy and Jack went on vacation together, alone. They already lived together and spent the summer together, but a vacation that was more than just a beach resort felt like it would raise people’s red flags. Even that had felt like too much, but was at least deniable.

They didn’t have to worry about that anymore. There were no subtle hints to give away when people had seen your wedding photos on Twitter. Emily and Ben joined them anyway because, as Ben insisted, “you won’t have fun without me.” They left Jack’s dog with Ron and decided on Italy because none of them had ever been before, and their car broke down on the way to a vineyard that Emily had picked out to visit on their first day. It was absolutely gorgeous and blisteringly hot in the open countryside, and it seemed as if everyone else in the world had decided to stay home because no other cars were coming and they didn’t have any cell service. 

“I guess it’s good we got snacks at the airport,” Jack mutters from where he’d laid out a travel blanket on the ground for an impromptu nap. One of the benefits of being a hockey player, Sammy mused, as the ability to nap in any circumstance. He’d always envied how Jack was better at that than him. He tries not to get distracted by how Jack’s ring glints in the sun as he stretches to put his hands behind his head. 

“It should be just down the road,” Emily says, ignoring him. “Some staff member will probably come by eventually, right?”

Sammy sat with Ben in the backseat and watched Ben play some phone game he’d downloaded before the plane ride and eventually someone  _ did _ come down the road, but they didn’t speak any English. Through use of the man’s phone, which was connecting to local towers, they managed to puzzle together enough information to get him to drive them back to their hotel where they called the rental car service to pick up the car and bring them a new one.

“So much for an easy honeymoon,” Sammy mutters, laying down next to Jack after everything was sorted.

Jack laughs and pulls him closer. “You would get bored.”

“Speak for yourself - I want to visit a museum and then go lay on the beach,” Sammy replies.

Jack shrugs but doesn’t say that he’s wrong.

They do end up going to a museum. At first, both couples are paired off, but after about half an hour, Ben and Sammy had sped up and left their respective partners behind. Sammy and Emily sent Ben and Jack on a ghost tour that night and took themselves out for gelato, and then listened patiently when Ben and Jack came back over excited, like kids who’d been allowed up past bedtime. 

Then, after two weeks, they were back in the states. For Jack, Sammy, and Ben, that meant back to training camp, and for Emily it was back to making sure any pictures of the four of them on social media were respectable, despite the fact that they’d almost gotten kicked off a wine tour because Ben couldn’t hold his liquor. It was kind of perfect.

Ben Arnold   
@benarnold44   
when i’m not crying i’ll make a thread about how proud i am of my best friend @samstevens67 (who won’t see this because he doesn’t use twitter) but until then…. I love him!  11:57 PM - 23 June 20xx  51  57 

New Jersey Devils   
@NJDevils   
proud to congratulate @samstevens67 on his recent wedding to ex-teammate @jwright68! (dont worry we aren’t bitter (Winking Face ))  8:52 AM - 24 June 20xx  251  268 

Allie    
@hockeygay   
can u BELIEVE sammy and jack invented love in 20xx?? (don’t tell my wife i said that)  1:32 PM - 24 June 20xx  49  53 

Sammy waits until the last minute to drive Jack to the airport and then regrets it when they only had time for a quick goodbye before Jack has to go through security. It isn’t actually different than any of the other years they’d done this but it feels heavier, somehow, in a way that Sammy can’t articulate even in his own mind. 

They don’t call each other more often because there isn’t a ‘more often’ from before. They’d already called each other all the time and Skyped pretty much every day, which they continue to do - Sammy texts Jack while he’s still on the plane and they called each other that night, and every night that they can.

It still feels - different, though. Ben barges in less when Sammy is talking to Jack, like he saw how Sammy was acting and didn’t want to intrude - though Sammy was sure that it had more to do with the amount of time he was spending at Emily’s apartment, because he wasn’t holding out hope for Ben to learn about boundaries.

But Ben did notice something, at least, because about a month into the season - a halfway point between the summer and Jack’s East coast road trip, because their schedule was a tragedy this season - he grabs Sammy after a game they won and says, “We’re going out.”

They go to a bar with the team. It’s busy - too close to the arena, full of fans,  _ loud _ \- but Sammy was left alone by the larger crowd for the most part. He was hardly the most famous, he hadn’t done anything amazing during the game - no one had any reason to pay him any extra attention, and so they didn’t.

He isn’t completely left alone. The last month had been a bit… strange, with the other guys in the room. After their article had come out, some of the guys didn’t care or at least were good enough actors, but there were some that Sammy had noticed had been keeping extra distance from him. He didn’t care about them, exactly - having only a small group turn against him was better than they’d ever expected - but some weren’t as good about leaving him alone as others. 

Myers walks up to him and Ben because he apparently hadn’t learnt his lesson last time. “So -”

“Do you have anything useful to say?” Ben interrupts. 

Myers puts a hand dramatically to his chest. “Everything I say is useful.” Ben raises an eyebrow incredulously and Myers shakes his head, letting the mock-offended act fall. “I just wanted to ask how married life was treating you, Stevie,” he says, affecting what he clearly thought was a pleasant tone but it was more insincere, making it all the more obvious that that wasn’t what he’d been planning on saying when he walked up.

“Fine,” Sammy answers shortly, turning back to his drink - water, even though Ben had brought him over a beer, because he had to stay up to call Jack after they got home. 

“Fuck off, Pete,” Ben says, the ‘medium rage’ he’d become infamous for in their locker room vibrating through every line of his body as he glares at Myers, who just puts up his hands and walks away with a huff. “Sorry,” he adds, turning back to Sammy.

“That was nothing,” Sammy tells him. “Don’t worry about people like Pete, Ben. He’s just gonna be a dick, it’s easier to ignore him.”

Ben scowls and sits back in the booth. “Yeah, but… he’s being mean to  _ you _ .”

Sammy gives Ben what he hopes is a reassuring smile. “It’s fine, Ben.” 

Ben lets it go but Sammy could tell that it was on his mind for the rest of the night. Sammy wished that he could help Ben understand how small Pete’s annoyances were in the grand scheme of things, especially compared to what Sammy had always feared and expected, but it was so outside his experience that all Sammy could do was show that it didn’t bother him and hope that that would work.

“Oh, thanks,” Jack says awkwardly, startled upon walking into the locker room and seeing his stall covered in confetti. “Is this - why? Is this a prank?”

“It’s not!” Troy says earnestly. “Some of the boys thought it would be a good way to congratulate you about getting married!”

“By… covering all my stuff in… is there glitter in there?” Jack asks, taking a tentative step towards his locker and leaving his bag a few feet away.

“It’s festive,” Troy answers, already sounding defensive.

“It’s… great,” Jack tries. He doesn’t want the other guys to think he’s ungrateful of their support but - he also doesn’t want to be cleaning confetti and glitter out of his clothes and bag and gear for the rest of his life. “Is there a vacuum anywhere in here?”

Troy honest to God pouts, which looks out of place on him. “Do you not like it?”

“No, no, it’s great,” Jack repeats. “It’s really nice. But - don’t some of the guys have kids? Don’t they know we’re all doomed now?”

Troy blanches. “I’ll help you look for the vacuum.”

A couple of the other guys who were already there helped them clean up the mess, and after they were done most of the team was there. Almost everyone gave Jack some kind of congratulations before they’d even made it on the ice and he was already feeling a bit exhausted. He knew at least one of the other guys had gotten married over the summer, but Jack didn’t notice anyone giving him any extra attention. He appreciated the support of his teammates but it still felt weird - he hadn’t become the social centre of the team at any point that he could remember, spent most of his time with Troy even though he liked to think that he got along with the other guys, but he wasn’t used to having conversations with everyone individually at practice.

Jack found confetti in the back of his stall until December.

The Spring is easier, which is usually the opposite of true. It isn’t easier in terms of hockey, but Sammy finds dealing with his teammates easier, at least. He still misses Jack all the time, but even the edge of that is off when he’s so distracted by work and Ben trying his best to do things together. And then it’s over and Sammy retires.

There isn’t a party of even really any acknowledgement from the team, other than a quick tweet thanking him for his time. Jack comes back to visit after they’re knocked out of the playoffs (the round after Sammy and Ben, so there wasn’t too long to wait, which is always bittersweet) and they go back to San Jose to look at houses.

“Are we sure we don’t just want another apartment?” Sammy asks after a month of looking. 

“I want a big yard for Abby and… I want somewhere to watch our kids grow up,” Jack answers, giving Sammy a soft look that makes Sammy want to kiss him. So he does.

“What if we move anyway?” Sammy continues when he pulls away again.

Jack shrugs. “We might, but they signed me on a five-year contract so we have a little bit at least.”

Sammy pulls away and grabs the pillow out from under Jack’s head. “When were you going to tell me!” 

“Ouch,” Jack says weakly when Sammy hits him once in the stomach with the pillow. “It just went through for sure yesterday.”

Sammy gives him back the pillow and Jack shoves it under his head. “Okay, so we’re getting a house, then.”

“Glad you can see it my way,” Jack teases, but he leans over to kiss Sammy again.

The house they end up getting is a three bedroom in a suburb an hour away from the arena. “Are you sure you’re okay with the commute?” Sammy asks for the hundredth time before they seal the deal.

Jack shrugs. “I’ll just listen to podcasts.”

They go back to Newark to pack up the apartment, because Ben was moving in with Emily too. When everything was packed up and in a moving truck they’d rented, they ordered pizza and ate it on the floor.

“I’m gonna miss you so much,” Ben laments, leaning into Sammy’s side. 

Sammy laughs and jostles him a little without dislodging him. “You’ll have Emily.”

“Still. I’ll miss you.”

Sammy smiles and ducks his head. “You too, buddy.”

“And this is the master bedroom!” Sammy finishes, closing the door to their bedroom as quickly as he’d opened it and walking his phone back to the living room.

“It’s so nice!” Ben says enthusiastically. “One thing, though.”

Sammy sits on the couch next to Jack, who was busy throwing a ball down the hallway for Abby. “What is it?” he asks, trying not to let genuine concern seep into his voice.

“Where’s my room?” Ben asks seriously, and Sammy and Jack both laugh. “No, for real - I’m gonna come stay there, I got the coach to give me an exemption for San Jose, you know that!”

“There’s a guest room?” Sammy tries, and Ben just rolls his eyes.

“It’s mine now,” Ben aserts.

“What about when my sister visits?” Jack asks, leaning further into Sammy so that he can look at Ben.

“Then she stays in my room.”

Jack looked at Sammy fondly. “I don’t think she’ll like that, but I’m willing to give it a try.”

Sammy shrugs. “It might make her stay with us less often than already - which is never, so I wouldn’t be too concerned.”

“You make a compelling argument,” Jack concedes, turning back to Ben. “Did you read that book I left you?”

Ben brightens and starts to chatter enthusiastically about whatever it was - something about ghost stories, Sammy was pretty sure, but he hadn’t paid attention when Jack had given it to Ben and wasn’t planning on starting now. He just kept the phone steady and watched them.

New Jersey Devils   
@NJDevils   
We wish@samstevens67 the best in his retirement!  3:15 PM - 22 July 20xx  26  30 

Ben Arnold   
@benarnold44   
@samstevens67 i’m gonna miss you so much!!!!!!!! I already do and i can see you guys walking to the uber.  7:30 PM - 23 July 20xx  29  32 

Jack Wright   
@jwright68   
@samstevens68 Can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with you (Revolving Hearts ) 10:52 AM - 24 July 20xx  55  61 

**Author's Note:**

> Jack Zimmermann and Jack Wright have opposite energies.


End file.
